Description
This research focuses on a cross-cultural comparison of relationship marketing strategies. In this article, we review the past literature and suggest the link between national culture and buyer-seller relationships across cultures.
Volume 23, No. 3, 2002
Edited by/Édité par
Ed Bruning
University of Manitoba
Marketing
Proceedings
of the Annual conference
of the
Administrative Sciences
Association of Canada
Marketing
Division
Winnipeg, Manitoba
May 26-28, 2002
Copies of the Proceedings
may be ordered from:
Actes
de Congrès annuel
de la section
Marketing
de
l’association des sciences
administrative du Canada
Winnipeg, Manitoba
26-28 mai 2002
Des exemplaires de ces actes
peuvent être obtenus de:
Dr. Sue Bruning
I.H. Asper School of Business
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 5V4
Office/Bureau: (204) 474-6566
Fax/Télécopieur: (204) 474-7545
E-mail/Address E: [email protected]
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ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a pleasure to present the
Proceedings for the 30
th
Annual
Marketing Division conference of the
Administrative Sciences Association of
Canada.
I would like to thank all of those who
have contributed to this year’s
conference and to these Proceedings. To
the authors, thanks for submitting your
papers to the conference. Setting limits
regarding papers to include in the
Proceedings and to the conference was a
challenge. To the reviewers, I appreciate
your timely and thoughtful reviews of
your colleague’s work. To the session
chairs, thanks for keeping the sessions
moving smoothly. To the conference
organizers, thanks for your time,
understanding, and patience. To the
conference attendees, thanks for your
support of this conference. Finally, I am
grateful to Charlotte Kirkpatrick for her
assistance in compiling these
proceedings.
Ed Bruning
Academic Reviewer
REMERCIEMENTS
Il me fait plaisir de présenter les Actes
du congre annuel de la division
Marketing de l’Association des sciences
administratives du Canada.
J’aimerais sincèrement remercier tous
ceux et toutes celles qui ont contribue au
congre et a l’assemblage de ces Actes
cette année. Je souhaite également
remercier tous les auteurs pour vos
articles qu’ils ont soumis au congre.
Établir les limites concernant les articles
a inclure dans les Actes et lors des
congres, representait tout un défi.
J’aimerais remercier les évaluateurs pour
l’évaluation ponctuelle et attentionnée
du travail de leurs collègues. Je voudrais
aussi remercier les organisatuers du
Congres pour leur temps, leur
compréhension et leur patience. Enfin,
je désire remercier tous les congressistes
pour leur support lors de ces Congres.
Finalement, j’aimerais remanier
Charlotte Kirkpatrick pour son
assistance en préparent les Acts.
Ed Bruning
Responsible de l’évaluation
iii
REVIEWERS/EVALUATEURS
Alain d’Astrous HEC Montreal
James Agarwal University of Regina
Pierre Balloffet HEC Montreal
Corinne Berneman HEC Montreal
Ed Bruning University of Manitoba
Marjorie Delbaere University of Manitoba
Tammi Feltham University of Saskatchewan
Gordon Fullerton Saint Mary’s University
Thomas Clarke Sonoma State University
Robert Graves King’s College
Bruce Huhmann University of Manitoba
Louise Heslop Carleton University
Richard Johnson University of Alberta
Maria Kalamas Concordia University
Kelley Main University of Manitoba
Raj Manchanda University of Manitoba
Richard Michon HEC Montreal
Harold Ogden Saint Mary’s University
Rosemary Polegato Mount Allison University
Nicolas Papadopoulos Carleton University
Susan Reid Concordia University
Philip Rosen Dalhousie University
Christopher Ross Concordia University
Judy Ann Roy University of New Brunswick
Najam Saqib University of Manitoba
Silvain Senecal HEC Montreal
Subbu Sivaramakrishnan University of Manitoba
Marjorie Wall University of Guelph
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS/TABLE DES MATIERES
Page
L’Orientation Marché dans le Domaine de la Mode: Conflit
avec la Création Artistique?………………………………………………………… 1
François Marticotte, UQAM
Service Quality and Interpersonal Relationship Expectations
in Long-Term Buyer-Seller Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Integration……… 11
Satya Dash, Indian Institute of Technology and Edward Bruning,
University of Manitoba
An Investigation of the Effect of Bill C-55: Lifting the Ban on Split-Run
Versions of Foreign Magazines……………………………………………………… 22
Bruce Huhman and Najam Saqib, University of Manitoba
Determinants and Consequences of Ethical Behavior: An
Empirical Study on Salespeople……………………………………………………. 32
Serio Román, Jose Munuera and Salvador Ruiz, University of Murcia—Spain)
ASAC MARKETING DIVISION BEST PAPER AWARD/
PRIX DU MEILLEUR TESTE
Promiscuous and Confident?: Attributions Made about
Condom Purchases…………………………………………………………………. 43
Darren Dahl, University of Manitoba, Peter Drake, University of British Columbia,
and Gerald Gorn, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
ASAC MARKETING DIVISION HONOURABLE MENTION AWARD/
MENTION HONORABLE
I’m Not Cheap, But If I Use This Coupon I Believe You’re Going
To Think I Am: The Influence of Metaperceptions Upon Coupon
Redemption…………………………………………………………………………. 53
Jennifer Argo and Kelley Main, University of Manitoba
ABSTRACTS/RESUMES ………………………………………………………… 62
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1
ASAC 2002 François Marticotte
Winnipeg, Manitoba École supérieure de mode de Montréal
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
L'ORIENTATION MARCHÉ DANS LE DOMAINE DE LA MODE :
CONFLIT AVEC LA CRÉATION ARTISTIQUE ?
La théorie nous enseigne que la recette du succès commercial pour les entreprises
créatrices de vêtements est de concilier une préoccupation élevée à la création artistique
tout en étant orientées vers le marché (i.e. "market oriented"). Une étude empirique
effectuée auprès de 117 entreprises du Québec créant et commercialisant des vêtements a
permis de tracer le profil commercial de quatre groupes d'entreprises axées sur ces deux
orientations. Les résultats confirment en partie cette supposition.
L'orientation marché et le domaine de la mode
Depuis une quinzaine d'années, notamment avec la publication de l'article de Shapiro
(1988), une nouvelle vie a été donnée à un concept qui constituait dès lors un des piliers du
marketing moderne, l'optique marketing (i.e. "marketing concept"). L'optique marketing est
considérée comme la philosophie de base en marketing, celle qui permet aux entreprises
d'atteindre leur finalité. Communément définie, l'optique marketing fait référence: " … (pour
atteindre les buts de l'organisation) à déterminer les besoins et les désirs des marchés cibles, et à
en assurer la satisfaction souhaitée avec plus d'efficacité et d'efficience que les concurrents."
(Kotler et al., 2000, p. 21). Sa popularité accrue dans la littérature ces dernières années reposerait
en fait sur les avancés conceptuels exposés de façon parallèle par Narver et Slater (1990) et Kohli
et Jaworski (1990). Ces deux groupes d'auteurs ont défini le moyen d'opérationaliser le concept
en lui collant le terme "orientation marché" (i.e. "market orientation"). Bien qu'une certaine
confusion ait existé à l'origine, il semble clair maintenant que l'optique marketing fasse référence
à une culture d'entreprise mettant le consommateur au centre de ses priorités dans le but
d'atteindre la rentabilité alors que l'orientation marché est la mesure de l'amplitude de l'adoption
de cette philosophie. Dans un contexte commercial où la concurrence ne fait que s'accentuer et où
la rentabilité demeure toujours la raison d'être des entreprises, l'adoption d'une philosophie de
gestion axée sur les besoins des consommateurs est plus alléchante que jamais. Par conséquent, le
recours à l'orientation marché ne s'en trouve que popularisé.
La réponse aux besoins des consommateurs comme moyen d'atteindre la rentabilité se
présente, théoriquement, comme une piste logique à suivre pour une majorité d'entreprises.
Historiquement, bien que cette vision soit contestée, notamment par Fullerton (1988), il s'agit du
cheminement chronologique des optiques de production, de produit et de vente. Il a toutefois été
avancé que cette philosophie de gestion n'est pas prescrite à tous. Bennett et Cooper (1981) par
exemple mettaient en garde contre l'adoption de cette philosophie. Selon eux, répondre aux
besoins des consommateurs est un moyen d'inhiber l'innovation. Hirschman (1983) quant à elle,
mentionnait qu'adhérer à cette culture d'entreprise était contraire à l'essence même de certaines
industries. Elle citait alors les domaines où évoluent les artistes et les idéologues. Sous cet angle,
une industrie semble, d'un point de vue ontologique, irréconciliable. Il s'agit de l'industrie de la
mode. Celle-ci doit constamment naviguer entre les deux pôles que sont la création artistique et
les impératifs commerciaux.
La mode éveille comme première pensée, l'expression d'une forme artistique. L'artiste,
qu'il s'agisse d'un designer ou d'un styliste (celui-ci verra éventuellement sa création exprimée
sous une troisième dimension) exprimera son œuvre comme le fait le peintre, le sculpteur ou le
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2
poète. Pour les puristes, l'intérêt de l'œuvre réside dans ce qu'elle représente. L'émotion qu'elle
suscite, la beauté qu'elle dégage, les considérations esthétiques qu'elle représente, l'originalité
qu'elle propose. Le vêtement est alors considéré comme un objet ostentatoire qui n'existe pas
pour son utilité fonctionnelle (Hirschman, 1983). L'intérêt du consommateur n'est alors tout
simplement pas au cœur des préoccupations du producteur. En conformité avec cette vision, la
commercialisation de l'objet n'est pas une prérogative. Le sont encore moins les impératifs de la
rentabilité de l'acte de création. Cette vision est éminemment différente de celle qui a préséance
dans le milieu des affaires et mise en valeur par le marketing.
D'un autre point de vue, mercantile celui-ci, la mode constitue une industrie comme les
autres. À l'échelle mondiale, il s'agit de la neuvième industrie la plus importante en ce qui a trait
aux exportations de marchandises (OMC, 2001). Au Canada seulement, l'industrie est composée
de 2 000 entreprises spécialisées employant plus de 100 000 personnes, la très grande majorité
toutefois, dans le secteur manufacturier (i.e. 85% travaillent à la production ce qui constitue 5%
des emplois manufacturiers canadiens) (Marticotte, 2001). Les entreprises ont donc intérêt, si
elles veulent connaître du succès commercial, à adopter les recettes employées dans les autres
sphères d'activités. Le recours à une optique de marketing, et par conséquent, être orienté vers le
marché, devient une solution envisageable.
Plusieurs recherches traitant de l'orientation marché ont été effectuées jusqu'à présent,
auprès d'industries non traditionnellement associées, au Canada du moins, à des impératifs de
rentabilité : services de santé (Laing et Galbraith, 1996), œuvres de charité (Balbanis et al., 1997),
la politique (O'Cass, 2001), organismes publics (Cervera et al., 2001), enseignement universitaire
(Caruana et al., 1998), théâtre (Voss et Voss, 2000). Bien peu toutefois se sont intéressées au
domaine de la mode. L'une d'elles (Ngai et Ellis, 1998) a été menée chez les manufacturiers de
vêtements de Hong Kong. Cette étude, comme plusieurs autres a montré un lien, faible toutefois,
entre l'orientation marché et la rentabilité. Parce que cette étude était centrée sur la production de
vêtements, elle a totalement évacué la notion de création.
Figure 1
Matrice élaborée par Easey (1995, p. 7)
Élevée Centrer sur le
design
Optique marketing
de la mode
Préoccupation
envers la
création Faible échec Optique marketing
faible élevée
Préoccupation envers les consommateurs
et la rentabilité
À notre connaissance, une seule étude en marketing a associé les notions de création
artistique à celles de l'orientation marché. Easey (1995) mentionne qu'il est possible pour les
entreprises évoluant dans le secteur de la mode de concilier une forte préoccupation aux aspects
artistiques à une forte préoccupation envers les consommateurs et la rentabilité. C'est ce qu'il
appelle "l'optique marketing de la mode" ("fashion marketing concept"). En s'appuyant sur ces
deux axes de préoccupation, il a élaboré une matrice présentant quatre possibilités aux entreprises
dans le secteur (figure 1). Ainsi, une entreprise faible sur les deux axes ne peut que courir à un
échec. L'entreprise fortement axée sur la création mais ayant de faibles préoccupations pour les
consommateurs et la rentabilité sera "centrée sur le design". Selon cette perspective, les designers
croient qu'ils sont la force réelle de l'entreprise et que le marketing, se résumant aux
communications de masse, a pour but de vendre les idées au public (Easey, 1995). C'est la
philosophie, souvent stéréotypée, qui est associée aux grands designers de mode. Finalement,
3
selon l'optique marketing, telle qu'envisagée par l'auteur, la création est au service de la recherche
marketing qui a été menée auprès des consommateurs. La résultante serait le nivellement du
contenu créatif à ce que l'on retrouve dans les grandes chaînes. Le marketing serait alors un
inhibiteur de créativité. La rentabilité devient ainsi, un indicateur de la popularité de la tendance.
Cette matrice élaborée par Easey (1995), purement théorique, n'a pas jusqu'à maintenant
été testée de façon empirique. Par conséquent, l'objectif principal de cette recherche est de
catégoriser les entreprises créatrices de mode en fonction de leur degré de créativité perçue et de
leur niveau d'orientation marché. Il nous sera alors possible de statuer à l'existence même d'une
optique marketing de la mode ou autrement dit, de l'existence d'entreprises ayant des
préoccupations élevées sur les deux axes. Dans un deuxième temps, nous identifierons les
facteurs distinctifs de chacun des groupes reposant sur les caractéristiques mêmes des entreprises,
et leurs activités commerciales.
Méthodologie
La préoccupation envers les consommateurs et à la rentabilité a été associée dans notre
étude au concept de l'orientation marché. L'échelle de mesure utilisée a été celle élaborée par
Narver et Slater (1990), échelle qui s'est avérée fiable dans plusieurs études (notamment : Ngai et
Ellis, 1998: 0,854; Greenley, 1995 : 0,80. Dans notre étude, l'alpha de Cronbach a été de 0,8494.
Puisque l’art est une manifestation subjective, il devient impérieux de tenter de mesurer
ce qu’est une orientation artistique ou le degré d’art exprimé par un individu. À notre
connaissance, une telle échelle n’existe pas dans le domaine de la mode vestimentaire. Pour palier
à ce manque tout en considérant l'incongruité de mesurer la subjectivité, une échelle d’auto-
évaluation de l’orientation artistique fut créée pour être administrée par l’artiste lui-même. Ainsi,
l’échelle permet d’estimer comment l’artiste se considère en fonction d’énoncés touchant cette
forme d’expression. Pour créer l'outil de mesure, une recherche s’est tout d’abord portée sur la
création d’énoncés pouvant mesurer ce concept multidimensionnel et varié. Une recherche dans
la littérature nous a permis de cibler des facettes propres au milieu artistique (Becker, 1978;
Hirschman, 1983; Hirschman et Wallendorf, 1982; Holbrook et Zirlin, 1983). Les thèmes
récurrents rencontrés touchent : l'intégrité artistique, la définition de soi, l'indépendance de
l'idéologie (Becker, 1978; Hirschman, 1983
, l'atteinte de buts personnels, la reconnaissance des
pairs, la vision personnelle, la satisfaction d'un besoin inné par l'auto-expression, l'expression des
valeurs et des émotions (Hirschman, 1983), l'unicité, (Hirschman et Wallendorf, 1982), et l'aspect
non pratique, non fonctionnel de l'oeuvre (Hirshman, 1983; Holbrook and Zirlin, 1983). De ces
thèmes, 12 énoncés furent composés pour mesurer une dimension artistique. Une fois l'outil
purifié, 10 énoncés furent retenus comme étant un indicateur de l'orientation artistique. Le tableau
1 présente ces énoncés ainsi que le score obtenu pour chacun d'eux, sur une échelle de 1(tout à
fait d'accord) à 5 (tout à fait en désaccord).
De manière à s'assurer de la validité divergeante de l’outil, 5 énoncés mesurant une
orientation production et une orientation vente, déjà utilisés par Gray et al. (1998), furent ajoutés
pour fins d’évaluations. Ces 3 orientations, théoriquement indépendantes, devraient générer 3
facteurs distincts. Une analyse factorielle confirmatoire fut menée pour estimer cette supposition.
Quatre facteurs furent extraits avec comme prémisse de base, une valeur propre supérieure à 1.
Un premier facteur englobait exclusivement 9 énoncés mesurant l'orientation artistique et le 3
ième
facteur était composé d'un seul énoncé, le 10
ième
énoncé de notre échelle originale. La fiabilité de
l'outil mesurant l'orientation artistique est jugée très satisfaisante dans ce contexte exploratoire
avec un alpha de Cronbach de 0,7908.
4
Tableau 1
Énoncés composant l'orientation artistique des designers de mode
énoncés pointage
1 Ce qui est important, c'est de créer de beaux vêtements qui me plaisent. 2,94
2 La réussite de l'entreprise passe avant tout par la création. 2,43
3 Ce qui est important, c'est de créer des vêtements uniques. 2,82
4 Je préfère commercialiser des produits à faible marge bénéficiaire et que
j'aime plutôt que de vendre des produits à meilleure marge qui ne me
plaisent pas.
3,26
5 Je n'aime pas suivre les tendances imposées par les autres. 2,85
6 Ma récompense ultime est d'avoir l'estime de mes pairs au sujet de mes
créations.
2,96
7 La rentabilité n'est pas un bon indicateur du succès des designers de mode. 3,33
8 Mes vêtements expriment une partie de mes émotions. 2,95
9 Je considère mes vêtements comme des œuvres d'art. 3,56
10 Il est important que les vêtements que je crée portent ma griffe. 3,16
moyenne 3,02
L'étude s'intéressait aux entreprises conceptrices de vêtements. Cela excluait de notre
échantillon, les entreprises qui ne faisaient que de la fabrication / production de vêtements. Les
entreprises uniquement manufacturières n'étaient donc pas considérées comme une population
valide pour cette étude. En recoupant plusieurs listes, 620 entreprises ayant leur siège social au
Québec ont été contactées. Le choix de cette région géographique s'appuie essentiellement sur
l'importance de cette province dans l'industrie canadienne de l'habillement. Dans tous les cas, le
contact initié par téléphone ou par lettre demandait de s'adresser au designer ou à un designer de
l'entreprise. Cent dix-sept designers ont retourné un long questionnaire qui faisait 10 pages de
format légal, pour un taux de réponse de 19%.
Résultats
La moyenne pour l'orientation artistique est de 3,02, celle pour l'orientation marché est de
1,98. La signification de ceci, en prenant en compte la gradation des deux échelles (1= tout à fait
d'accord, 5=tout à fait en désaccord), nous amène à avancer que généralement, les entreprises de
l'échantillon, via leur designer, se perçoivent davantage suivant une orientation marché qu'une
orientation artistique. Ce biais favorable avoué en faveur d'une orientation marché n'est pas
unique à cette étude. Shapiro (1988) avançait que presque toutes les entreprises se prétendent
orientées vers le marché. De façon à pouvoir catégoriser les entreprises en fonction de la matrice
suggérée par Easey (1995), une analyse typologique (procédure Quick Cluster, SPSS 10.0, avec 4
groupes demandés) a été effectuée en fonction des scores moyens obtenus sur l'orientation
artistique et sur l'orientation marché. Le tableau 2 présente la répartition de notre échantillon sur
ces deux axes.
5
Tableau 2
Répartition des entreprises selon la classification de Easey
Identification des
groupes
n Pointage orientation
artistique
Pointage orientation
marché
Optique marketing 26 3,87 1,20
Optique marketing de
la mode
29 2,42 1,52
Centré sur le design 40 2,81 2,38
échec 14 3,43 3,25
Trois groupes apparaissent clairement avoir une similarité avec la typologie élaborée par
Easey (1995). Il s'agit des groupes "optique marketing" (forte préoccupation sur le marché, faible
préoccupation artistique), "optique marketing de la mode" (forte préoccupation sur le marché,
forte préoccupation artistique) et "échec" (faible préoccupation sur le marché, faible
préoccupation artistique). Le groupe "centré sur le design" quant à lui, devrait théoriquement
afficher un meilleur pointage (ici, un pointage plus petit) sur l'échelle de l'orientation artistique,
que celui obtenu avec l'échelle de l'orientation marché. Les résultats ne montrent pas ce portrait.
Les tableaux 3 et 4 présentent le profil des entreprises de chacun des groupes en fonction
de leur caractéristiques internes (tableau 3) et de leurs principales activités commerciales (tableau
4). Pour des fins d'espace, l'analyse des résultats portera essentiellement sur le groupe combinant
des orientations artistique et marché élevées, c'est-à-dire le groupe "optique marketing de la
mode". Seuls les résultats présentant des différences significatives (à 0,05) seront considérés.
Les entreprises de ce groupe sont celles qui apparaissent les plus petites, tant en chiffres
d'affaires qu'en nombre d'employés. Sur ces bases, elles correspondent davantage à des PME.
Conséquemment à ce profil, il est peu surprenant de noter que le designer de l'entreprise risque
davantage d'en être le propriétaire, en partie ou en totalité. Résultat intéressant s'il en est un, dans
ce groupe, chez pratiquement quatre entreprises sur cinq, le designer est aussi la principale
personne responsable des décisions commerciales. Bien que les designers de ce groupe aient la
plus forte orientation artistique des quatre groupes (( = 2,42), cela ne les empêche pas d'avoir des
préoccupations élevées quant à leur environnement de marché, ce qui laisse présumer que leur
entreprise suit une optique marketing. Chez ce groupe du moins, il n'est pas incompatible de
fonctionner en favorisant simultanément des préoccupations élevées aux niveaux artistique et
marketing.
Une conséquence souvent induite à un niveau d'orientation marché élevé est une
performance supérieure de l'entreprise. Cette mesure de performance a été appréhendée en ayant
recours à quatre évaluations qualitatives (sur une échelle de 1: tout à fait d'accord à 5). Deux
énoncés ont montré des différences significatives. Les entreprises "échec" sur ces critères sont
logiquement, perçues les moins performantes. Parallèlement, le groupe "optique marketing" se
perçoit le plus performant, davantage que le groupe "optique marketing de la mode". Ce résultat
laisse transparaître le fait que pour les entreprises créatrices de mode ayant un haut niveau
d'orientation marché, le niveau de créativité perçue n'ajoute pas à la performance de l'entreprise.
6
Tableau 3
Caractéristiques internes des 4 groupes
Optique
marketing
de la mode
Optique
marketing
Centré
sur le
design
échec Analyse
statistique
Revenus annuels:
• Moins de 250 000$
• 250 000$ - 2 millions
• plus de 2$ millions
42,3%
42,3%
15,4%
9,5%
14,3%
76,2%
23,5%
32,4%
44,1%
18,2%
0%
81,8%
?
2
= 24,17
p=0,000
Taille :
Nombre d'employés
25,50
154,25
60,18
59,64
F=3,989
p=0,010
Âge de l'entreprise (nombre d'années) 19,00 33,20 22,95 20,57 F=2,943
p=0,037
Entreprise perçue comme un succès
commercial ?
• oui
• non
78,3%
21,7%
90,9%
9,1%
80,0%
20,0%
66,7%
33,3%
?
2
= 2,370
p=0,499
Mesures qualitatives de performance
• volume de vente supérieur aux
concurrents
• rentabilité supérieure aux
concurrents
• succès commercial plus grand
qu'espéré
• cette entreprise est un succès
commercial
3,13
3,05
2,88
2,24
3,18
2,95
2,32
1,87
3,00
2,74
2,89
2,36
3,67
3,00
3,42
2,93
F (p)
1,078
(0,363)
0,490
(0,690)
3,776
(0,013)
2,792
(0,045)
Comparaison des ventes avec année
précédente
• inférieures
• supérieures
• similaires
14,3%
42,9%
42,9%
5,0%
75,0%
20,0%
13,9%
63,9%
22,2%
18,2%
63,6%
18,2%
?
2
= 7,071
p=0,314
Utilisation d'un plan d'affaires
• oui
• non
62,1%
37,9%
70,8%
29,2%
50%
50%
25%
75%
?
2
= 7,770
p=0,051
Utilisation d'un plan de marketing
• oui
• non
28%
72%
41,7%
58,3%
27%
73%
8,3%
91,7%
?
2
= 4,472
p=0,215
Le designer est propriétaire ?
• oui
• non
77,8%
22,2%
38,5%
61,5%
50%
50%
42,9%
57,1%
?
2
= 9,580
p=0,022
Le designer prend les décisions
commerciales ?
• oui
• non
78,6%
21,4%
38,5%
61,5%
35,9%
64,1%
35,7%
64,3%
?
2
= 14,571
p=0,002
Nombre d'avantages concurrentiels 3,25 3,58 3,03 2,60 1,12 (0,345)
7
Les activités commerciales du groupe "optique marketing de la mode" se distinguent
rarement de celles des autres groupes. On doit noter toutefois qu'il s'agit du groupe utilisant le
moins fréquemment les logiciels dans la création vestimentaire. Est-ce pour une raison
idéologique ou financière, ces entreprises étant les plus petites ?
Tableau 4
Pratiques commerciales des 4 groupes
* : Pourcentage de cellules ayant des
fréquences théoriques inférieures à 5
est supérieur à 20%.
Optique
marketing
de la mode
Optique
marketing
Centré
sur le
design
Échec
Analyse
statistique
Décisions de produits
Type de production
• prêt à porter
• sur mesure
• les deux
37%
11,1%
51,9%
96%
0%
4%
74,4%
2,6%
23,1%
91,7%
0%
8,3%
?
2
= 26,491
p=0,000*
Gamme de qualité
• bas de gamme
• milieu de gamme
• haut de gamme
13,8%
6,9%
79,3%
20%
24%
56%
12,8%
28,2%
59%
33,3%
25%
41,7%
?
2
= 8,895
p=0,180*
Nombre de collections annuelles 2,27 1,92 2,76 1,69 F=1,414
p=0,243
Impartition de la production
• oui
• non
66,7%
33,3%
88,5%
11,5%
76,9%
23,1%
84,6%
15,4%
?
2
= 4,049
p=0,256
Production effectuée à l'extérieur
• oui
• non
94,4%
5,6%
68,2%
31,8%
83,3%
16,7%
81,8%
18,2%
?
2
= 4,652
p=0,199*
Création à l'aide de logiciels
• oui
• non
31%
69%
65,4%
34,6%
40%
60%
69,2%
30,8%
?
2
= 9,854
p=0,020
Décisions de distribution
Nombre de points de vente 124,48 618,94 124,48 221,4 F=5,191
p=0,003
Type de distribution
• propre force de vente
• agence de vente externe
62,5%
37,5%
77,3%
22,7%
70,6%
29,4%
72,7%
27,3%
?
2
= 1,245
p=0,742
Perception de contrôle sur les
détaillants (de 1 à 5)
2,1483 3,1791 2,8378 3,3566 F=5,510
p=0,002
Perception de contrôle sur les
fournisseurs (de 1 à 5)
2,4256 2,6747 2,5778 2,5744 F=0,554
p=0,647
Exportation à l'extérieur du Québec
• oui
• non
48,1%
51,9%
88%
12%
78,4%
21,6%
76,9%
23,1%
?
2
= 11,825
p=0,008
Contribution des exportations aux
revenus annuels (%)
51,64 61,53 56,3 26,25 F=2,691
p=0,055
Décisions de communication
Dépenses annuelles
• moins de 10 000$
• entre 10 000$ et 50 000$
• plus de 50 000$
74,1%
14,8%
11,1%
38,1%
23,8%
38,1%
40%
28,6%
31,4%
83,3%
8,3%
8,3%
?
2
= 14,114
p=0,028*
8
Nombre d'outils de communication
utilisés annuellement
3,85
3,57
3,89
2,11
F=1,790
p=0,155
Peut-être aussi en raison de leur petitesse relative, on retrouve leurs vêtements dans moins
de points de vente. Ce groupe exporte aussi le moins ses créations à l'extérieur du Québec.
Compte tenu de leur profil distinctif, il est difficile d'expliquer pourquoi, outre le moins grand
nombre de détaillants avec qui elles transigent, pourquoi elles perçoivent avoir le plus grand
contrôle (échelle de ZuHone et Morganosky, 1995) sur les détaillants.
Discussion et conclusion
Cette étude se veut à notre connaissance, l'une des premières à associer les orientations
artistique et de marché dans le domaine de la mode. Par conséquent, les résultats obtenus doivent
être considérés dans un contexte exploratoire. Ceci nous amène à pousser davantage nos
recherches sur ce sujet, notamment en l'étudiant dans d'autres régions géographiques et en
améliorant notre échelle de mesure de l'orientation artistique. Cette recherche a néanmoins permis
d'amener des éléments d'information nouveaux.
Il semble tout à fait réalisable pour des entreprises oeuvrant dans la création vestimentaire
et commercialisant leur offre, d'être à la fois orientées vers les aspects artistiques et en même
temps, suivre une optique marketing. Pour donner suite au titre de cette communication, à savoir
si les deux orientations sont conflictuelles, la réponse est non. Ces entreprises, que Easey (1995) a
identifiées comme suivant une optique marketing de la mode, semblent être de plus petites
organisations. La question qui demeure à être explorée est le lien de causalité qui unit les
caractéristiques de l'entreprise et le choix d'une philosophie. Est-il nécessaire que l'entreprise de
mode soit de petite taille pour suivre une optique marketing de la mode ? Est-ce le choix de cette
optique qui entraîne la petitesse de l'entreprise ?
Cette étude a aussi montré que lorsque l'entreprise a un niveau plus élevé d'orientation
marché, ce qui est le cas des groupes "optique marketing" et "optique marketing de la mode", cela
s'associe à certaines mesures de performance plus élevées. L'industrie de la mode ne semble donc
pas différente des autres industries pour lesquelles les considérations artistiques ne sont pas une
partie intégrante. Le fait d'ajouter une orientation artistique plus élevée ne rend pas les entreprises
plus performantes. En fait, le niveau de performance de ces entreprises est moindre, bien que
statistiquement non significative. Autrement dit, une entreprise faisant de la création
vestimentaire peut très bien réussir, commercialement parlant, en suivant uniquement l'optique
marketing.
En complémentarité à l'idée précédente, l'échantillon se perçoit généralement comme
ayant davantage l'orientation marché que l'orientation artistique. Le mythe des designers peu
préoccupés par les consommateurs est-il encore en vigueur ? Cette vision, souvent accolée aux
designers oeuvrant dans la haute couture ne trouvent justement peut-être pas d'écho dans cette
étude en l'absence de designers se spécialisant dans cette voie.
Finalement, peu importe leurs différences quant aux deux orientations mesurées dans
cette étude, les entreprises des quatre groupes diffèrent peu quant à leurs activités commerciales.
Lorsque ces différences sont significatives, il faudrait en explorer davantage les raisons. Cela est-
il effectivement lié aux orientations différentes qui entraînent des politiques commerciales
adaptées, ou est-ce plutôt des différences organisationnelles (taille, ancienneté, lien de propriété,
…) qui en sont la réelle cause.
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(1996), 24-35.
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(Automne 2001), 90-97.
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11
ASAC 2002 Satya Dash
Winnipeg, Manitoba Indian Institute of Technology
Ed Bruning
University of Manitoba
SERVICE QUALITY AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP EXPECTATIONS IN
LONG-TERM BUYER-SELLER RELATIONSHIPS: A CROSS-CULTURAL
INTEGRATION
A plethora of books, special journal issues, and conference
proceedings bear testimony to the continuing interest in
relationship marketing. However, there has been limited research
on this topic from a cross-cultural perspective. This research
focuses on a cross-cultural comparison of relationship marketing
strategies. In this article, we review the past literature and suggest
the link between national culture and buyer-seller relationships
across cultures.
National Culture
Although it has received only limited attention in the academic literature, culture
(particularly national culture) is related to service quality and interpersonal relationship
expectations and long-term buyer-seller relationships. But, what is culture? And how is it linked
to perceptions, expectations, and relationships in a marketing context?
The concept of culture is widely interpreted in the academic literature. Kroeber and
Kluckhohn (1952) identify more than 160 ways culture can be defined. Kluckhohn (1962) defines
culture as the part of human makeup “which is learned by people as the result of belonging to a
particular group, and is that part of learned behavior that is shared by others. It is our social
legacy, as contrasted to our organic heredity”(p-25).
To study national culture between two countries we turn to the seminal work of Hofstede
(1980, and 1991). He defined culture as the “collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from those of another”(p 5, 1991).
Hofstede’s typology of culture is one of the more important and popular theories of culture types.
A study of social science citation index listings found 1036 quotations from Hofestede's cultural
consequences in journals during the period 1980 to 1993 (Sondergaard, 1994). In the most
exhaustive cross-cultural study to date, based on questionnaire data from 117,000 IBM employees
in 66 countries across seven occupations, Hofstede (1980) established four dimensions of national
culture: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term
orientation. Although these dimensions initially were developed from employees of just one
firm, they have been found to be “generalizable” outside IBM and to represent well the
differences between cultures. Hofstede argues that countries can be placed differentially on these
dimensions according to their core values and institutions, including their work related values.
According to Hofstede, individualism pertains to characteristics of peoples of a society in
which the ties between individuals are loose; everyone is expected to look after himself and his or
her immediate family. Collectivism, as individualism’s opposite, pertains to societies in which
people from birth are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s
lifetimes continues to protect them in exchange for unquestionable loyalty. Power distance refers
to the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a
country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Masculinity is defined as the
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Veuillez Renvoyer à la Table des Matières de Section
12
degree to which achievement, competition, assertiveness, and performance are emphasized.
Thus, low masculinity cultures emphasize cooperation and interpersonal relationships.
Uncertainty avoidance is a tolerance to risk. Cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to
shun risk and seek ways to add structure and control to their organization. Finally,
confucian/dynamism (long term orientation) basically refers to the time orientation of a culture;
that is, whether that culture tends to operate in a long-term or short-term context. Cultures high in
confucian/ dynamism tend to emphasize long-term horizons.
Because of differences in the aforementioned characteristics highlighted in Hofstede's
work, it seems reasonable to conclude that buyer-seller relationships and perceptions of service
quality will vary across national cultures. The following section presents the results of past
research that addresses aspects of the linkage between relationship marketing and national
culture.
Cross-Cultural Research in Buyer-Seller Relationships
According to Jackson (1985a, 1985b), applying the relationship selling process to all
types of customers indiscriminately may lead to inappropriate interpersonal interaction if the
customer’s orientation is only short-term in nature. Therefore, if the objective of the salesperson
and his or her firm is to develop mutually beneficial buyer-seller relationships, then recognizing
the buyer’s actions, attitudes, and behaviors that indicated his or her preference for a working
relationship is necessary.
In a similar vein, Miles, Arnold and Nash (1990) suggest there are different selling styles
for different selling approaches for different types of buyer-seller interactions. They believe that
some customers are best sold on a one time, discrete transaction basis. In these situations, the
salesperson needs to adapt his or her selling approach to a task oriented means of communication
(mechanistic, goal oriented and purposeful) versus an interaction-oriented style (emphasizing
social context and interpersonal relationships).
With respect to the national culture aspects of buyer-seller relationships, Jones (2000)
studied the interaction expectations of Asian and North American buyers in the hotel industry. He
identified interaction constructs (i.e., structural bonding, social bonding, communication, trust,
and relationship commitment) as key constructs for his study. He found that communication
content, trust, and social bonding had a statistically significant and positive relationship with the
outcome variable of relationship commitment. Furthermore, it was discovered that trust and
communication content was given more importance in long-term relationships by North
American- based compared to Asian-based companies. He also found that buyers with higher
levels of eastern culture oriented values leads to higher expectations of long-term orientation and
social bonding in the relationship.
From the above discussion it is clear that a pattern of relationship marketing practiced in
one cultural may not be suitable in other cultural contexts. Therefore, different marketing
approaches may be necessary across cultures in order to satisfy varied interaction expectations.
Service Quality
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry’s (1985, 1988, 1991b, 1993) work has identified five
dimensions of service quality. These dimensions are: reliability, responsiveness, assurance,
tangibles, and empathy. Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately. Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
Assurance is the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and
confidence. Empathy is the caring, individualized attention provided to customers; and tangibles
13
are the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials.
Based on these dimensions, researchers measured perceptions of service quality in service and
retailing organizations.
Service quality has been argued to play a central role in understanding customer
satisfaction and retention (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1985). Service quality has been
identified as a potential antecedent of both satisfaction and customer retention. (Cronin and
Taylor, 1992). The contribution of service quality as an antecedent in establishing and
maintaining long-term relationships and customer loyalty is well established. Wetzels, Martin, et.
al., (2000) state that service quality characteristics are a decisive factor in determining customer
trust and commitment. Mackenzie (1992) provides evidence demonstrating that customer trust in
the office equipment market is influenced positively by customer perceptions of service offerings.
Similarly, Venetis (1997) reports empirical evidence for a positive relationship between service
quality and relationship commitment in advertising agency-client relationships.
The customer’s perception of quality is a construct quite similar to satisfaction and has
been discussed extensively, particularly in the context of service relationships (Persuraman,
Zeithaml and Berry 1988; Cronin and Taylor 1992; Tees 1994; and Rust and Oliver 1994). For
the most part, the aforementioned authors stress that service quality leads to customer
satisfaction, trust, commitment, relationship longevity, and to customer relationship profitability.
Service Quality and National Culture
Several studies have contributed towards linking service quality and various cultural
dimensions. Furrier et. al., (2000) tested a conceptual link between all five cultural dimensions
developed by Hofstede (1980, 1991) and variations in the relative performance of the five service
quality dimensions developed by Parsuraman, Zethamal, and Berry (1985, 1988; Parsuraman,
Berry, Zeithamal 1991b). They also developed a cultural service quality index (CSQI) that
evaluated the relative importance of each SERVQUAL dimension as a function of Hoefstede's
five cultural dimensions. The purpose was to determine if the index could segment multicultural
markets. They found that in cultures with high power distance, powerful customers attached
greater importance to responsiveness, reliability, empathy and tangibles. Weak customers, on the
other hand, attached importance to assurance and tangibles. In cultures with small power distance,
all customers indicated a similar pattern of importance to all service quality dimensions as the
difference between powerful and weak customers were small. Highly individualistic customers
indicated reliability and responsiveness were more important. Further, they found that cultures
having long-term orientations would attach more importance to reliability, responsiveness, and
empathy.
Power distance. Matila (1999) studied the relationship between powerful customers and
weak service providers in a luxury hotel. She found that Asian-Indian travelers demonstrated
higher importance on personalized service than their westerner counterparts. She argued this
difference was due to the power distance dimension of culture. Western travelers, being
individualistic in nature, gave higher importance to physical environment features compared to
their Asian counterparts.
Donthu and Yoo (1998) argued that service providers have more power over their
consumers in some service activities (e.g. insurance, banking, consulting). In these situations, the
power of the service provider comes from her expertise, professional knowledge, or skills. They
develop hypotheses and test whether customers in high power distance cultures have lower
service quality expectations than low power distance oriented cultures. The results of the
empirical data supported their initial hypotheses: buyers in high power distance cultures are more
tolerant of service shortcomings compared to buyers in low power distance cultures.
Frazier, Gill, and Kale (1989) stated that, compared to western markets, many Indian
marketing channels possess an asymmetrical balance of power whereby sellers (suppliers) are
14
more powerful than buyers (dealers). India falls into the category of a high power distance
culture. Cultures with large power distance measures are characterized by important differences
between more powerful and less powerful people. These differences are visible in terms of social
class, education level, and occupation. Donthu and Yoo (1998) argue that customers of high
power distance cultures would tend to respect and defer to service providers. As a result of their
tolerance in accepting inequalities in power, they are likely to have lower service quality
expectations compared to customers of low power distance cultures. Consequently, buyer from
high power distance culture would tolerate poor service delivery due to service provider’s
expertise or power.
Individualism/Collectivism. In general, individualism refers to the value of the
individual’s rights, characteristics, and identity over those of the group. Cultures high in
individualism emphasize what is best for the person. Cultures low in this dimension approach
decisions from a “we” standpoint (Hofstede 1991). Thus, in an individualistic society the
customer’s primary goal is to achieve his own interests, not others’ (i.e. service providers)
interests. It follows, therefore, that individualistic customers will be less tolerate of poor service
quality providers. Further, they will tend to be less interested in long lasting relationships. Since
they are skilled at entering and leaving reference groups, upon experiencing poor service quality
from a service provider they will have a strong tendency to abandon the service provider. On the
other hand, collectivist customers will put stress on "we" (i.e. view both the service provider and
customer as one group) as they stress mutual interdependence in their relationship with the
service provider. They will be more tolerate of poor service quality because the service provider
is considered a member in their in-group. Since collectivists are interested in establishing and
maintaining long lasting relationships they will not easily leave the service provider.
The socialization patterns that are found in collectivist cultures emphasize obedience,
duty, sacrifice for the group, cooperation, preference towards members of the in-group,
acceptance of in-group authorities, nurturing, and interdependence. Conversely, patterns that are
found in individualistic cultures emphasize independence, self-reliance, creativity, and acceptance
of disobedience. In individualistic cultures, people are adept at entering and leaving groups, but
do not develop deep and lasting relationships with the same frequencies as collectivists. By
contrast, in collectivist cultures people tend towards shyness, tend to be less willing and able to
enter new groups, but also tend to establish more intimate and long-lasting relationships than do
individualists. (Triandis et. al., 1993).
Long-term orientation. Long-term orientation is the extent to which a society exhibits a
pragmatic future-oriented perspective (fostering virtues like perseverance and thrift) rather than a
short-term point of view. They would sacrifice today for a better future. Long-term orientation
places little importance on today-oriented values (Hofstede, 1991). It follows, therefore, that
long-term oriented customers are more likely to tolerate poor service. They will give time to
service providers to allow them to rectify their mistakes. On the other hand, short- term oriented
customers would expect that their every service experience with service providers should be
perfect in all respects. When experiencing poor service they would opt to leave without giving the
service provider time to improve.
From the above discussion we can conclude that buyers from individualistic, low power
distance, and short-term oriented societies will have higher over all service quality expectations
than similar type of buyers in collectivist, high power distance, and long-term oriented societies.
Further, the assurance dimension of service quality will be given higher importance by high
power distance buyers than low power distance buyers. We propose the following propositions:
P1 Service quality will be an antecedent of satisfaction, trust, commitment and
long-term relationships for all buyers regardless of Individualism, Power distance,
long-term orientation contexts.
15
P2 Buyers from individualistic, low power distance, and short-term oriented
societies will have comparatively higher service quality expectation than similar
type of buyers of collectivist, high power distance, and long-term oriented
societies.
P3 The assurance dimension of service quality will be given higher importance by
weak buyers in high power distance societies than with similar types of buyers in
low power distance societies.
Factors Affecting Long-Term Relationships
Dwyer et. al., (1987) have developed a model which considers both the interaction
between the buyer and seller as well as the process of change in that interaction . They suggest
that relationships between buyers and sellers evolve through five distinct phases. Each stage
represents a major transition in how parties regard each other. Awareness is the first phase that
refers to recognition of the feasibility of the exchange partner. The second stage is exploration,
which refers to the search and trial phase in the relational exchange. In this phase, potential
exchange partners first consider obligations, burdens, and the possibility of mutual benefits from
exchange. The exploration phase has five sub-processes: 1) attraction, 2) communication and
bargaining, 3) development of exercise of power, 4) norm development, and 5) expectation of
trust development. Phase three is the expansion phase, which refers to the continual deepening of
the relationship from benefits obtained by exchange partners and subsequently increases their
interdependence. The five sub-processes introduced in exploration phase (phase 2) also operate in
the expansion phase (phase three). The rudiments of trust and joint satisfaction established in the
exploration phase lead to increased interdependence in the third phase. Commitment is the fourth
phase that refers to an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange
partners. Dissolution is the final phase, which refers to the possibility of withdrawal or
disengagement from the relationship.
Wilson (1995) developed an integrated model that blends the variables for a successful
relationship with the five-stage process model of relationship developed by Dwyer et. al., (1987).
He identified a set of 13 success variables that have both theoretical and empirical support in the
relationship marketing research. The success variables are: commitment, trust, cooperation,
mutual goals, interdependence and power imbalance, performance satisfaction, structural bonds,
comparison level of alternatives, non-retrievable investments, shared technology, social bonds,
summative constructs and adaptation. Mishra (2000) conducted a meta-analysis and converged
into a correlation table the findings from earlier relationship research published in referred
journals. He identified satisfaction, trust, and interdependence as antecedent constructs to the
likelihood of a relationship to continue. He also reported that commitment, power,
communication, conflict resolution, and co-operation indirectly effected the likelihood of the
relationship continuing.
From the above literature review we surmise the following key success variables that
directly and indirectly affect long-term relationships between buyers and sellers: communication,
structural bonding, social bonding, adaptation, cooperation, satisfaction, trust and relationship
commitment. The remainding portions of this paper discusses each of these factors relative to
three of Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture: individualism, power distance, and long-term
orientation.
Communication
A customer’s initial contact with a seller must include some form of either written or oral
communication. The style, tone and content of this initial communication will likely shape the
16
first impressions of either or both parties and may affect the nature of relationship that develops
(Wren and Simpson, 1996, pp-72). Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh (1987) argue that communication is
an important input to customer commitment. Anderson, Lodish and Weitz (1987) contend that
communication is positively associated with customer trust, which has been empirically verified
by Anderson and Narus (1990).
Sheth (1976) developed a conceptual framework of communication in buyer-seller
relationships. He characterized communication along two dimensions: content and style.
Content of communication represented the substantive aspects of the purpose for which the two
parties have gotten together. Communication content is further defined in five utility dimensions:
functional, social organizational, situational, emotional, and curiosity. The second
communication dimension is style and is sub-divided into three dimensions: task oriented,
interaction oriented and self-oriented. Sheth suggested that the determinant factors of
communication content and style are: 1) personal factors 2) organizational factors, and 3)
product-specific factors. Personal factors will drive communication style, organizational factors
drive both communication content and style, and product specific factors drive the
communication content in buyer-seller relationships (Sheth, 1976).
Communication and national culture. Regarding style of communication, Kale and
Barnes (1992) proposed that buyers from collectivist cultures preferred sales behavior would be
more cooperative, integrative, and interaction oriented, in comparison to buyer’s from
individualistic cultures. Miles, Arnold and Nash (1990) suggested that task oriented buyers will
expect a task oriented sales adaptation at all stages of the relationship, while the self and
interaction oriented buyer will expect an interaction style of communication in the early stages of
the relationship (i.e. awareness and exploration development) and a combination of interaction
style and task style communication in the latter stages (i.e. expansion and commitment). From
the above-cited literature we propose the following propositions:
P4 Communication will be an antecedent of trust and commitment in all societies
regardless of differences in individualism/collectivism, power distance, or long-
term orientation,
P5 Interaction oriented communication styles will be given higher importance by
collectivist societies.
P6 Task oriented communication styles will be given higher importance by
individualistic societies.
Adaptation
Adaptation is the process by which both buyer and supplier might modify their resources
to suit the other. It is required to maintain collaborative relationship building. According to Ford
(1980), “adaptations mark a commitment by the buyer or seller to the relationship.” Adaptive
selling is defined as, “altering of sales behaviors during a customer interactions based on
perceived interactions and perceived information about the nature of selling situation” (Weitz,
Sujan and Sujan, 1986, p-175). Adaptation mechanisms affect the level of trust and commitment.
Adaptation and national culture. According to Frazier, Gill and Kale (1989),
compared to western markets, Indian marketing channels still have an asymmetrical balance of
power where sellers (suppliers) are more powerful than buyers (dealers). In a high power distance
culture, the less powerful buyers would not demand adaptive selling from sellers. As a result of
their characteristics of accepting inequalities, they will tolerate non-adaptive styles from sellers.
Collectivist buyers will emphasize "we" (i.e. both buyer and seller as a group) rather than "I" as
they emphasize mutual dependence and trust in interpersonal relationships. They will tolerate
17
poor adaptive selling styles of sellers because they anticipate that problems will be rectified in the
future.
Gulbro and Herbig (1996) stated that high context (collectivist) negotiators are less
programmatic and less rigid, particularly in time management, contract signing, and closing deals.
On the other hand, individualist buyers view themselves as dealing with the organization not
person. In low power distance cultures, the power difference between the buyer and seller is
small. The low power distance buyer will not tolerate poor adaptive selling style from sellers. An
individualistic society member will primarily see her own interest, not other’s (i.e. the service
providers) interest as dominant in the relationship. Whenever notice is made of poor adaptive
style on the part of the seller, the individualist will immediately quit the seller without giving time
for the seller to improve. This tendency is further reinforced by the propensity of the
individualist entering and leaving groups at ease. Thus, proposition six states:
P7 Buyers from collectivist, high power distance, long-term oriented societies will
have comparatively higher tolerance to poor adaptive selling approaches on the
part of sellers than buyers from individualistic, low power distance, and short-
term oriented societies.
Bonding
Bonding is defined as the dimension of a business relationship that results in two parties
(customer and supplier) acting in a unified manner towards a desired goal. Various bonds exist
between parties that indicate different levels of a relationship (Collaghan, Jannelle, and Yau,
1994). Bonding has been successful in explaining within country buyer-seller relationships (IMP
Group, 1982; Wilson and Moller, 1988). In the literature, bonds are classified under two broad
categories: structural and social bonding.
Structural bonding is the task orientation between buyer and seller. It is the “degree to
which certain ties link and hold a buyer and seller together in a relationship as a result of some
mutually beneficial economic, strategic, technological, or organizational objective”(Williams
Han, and Qualls, 1998). Social bonding is the bonding that takes place between individuals (i.e.,
the buyer and seller). During social bonding, individuals are bonded together via the
organizational members’ personal and social relationship with their counterparts in a particular
firm. Personal factors such as trust or satisfaction with the relationship partner play an important
role in developing social bonding (Williams et. al.,1998). Wilson (1995) defined social bonding
as the degree of mutual personal friendship and liking shared by the buyer and seller.
Bonds reflect and cause commitment in business relationships (Hakansson and Snehota,
1995). While studying members of the Purchasing Management Association of Canada, Smith
(1998) states that social, functional, and structural bonds provide the context from which
relational outcomes, such as trust, satisfaction and commitment, are evaluated. He introduces a
third form of bonding termed he calls functional bonding that is a further division of structural
bonding. He found that communication, cooperation, and relationship investment were important
predictors of social bonding, while relationship investment and relationalism predicted structural
bonding. Williams et. al., (1998) found that both social and structural bonding were positively
related to commitment. However, structural bonding had a greater effect on commitment than
social bonding.
Social bonding, structural bonding and national culture. Williams et. al., (1998)
related the individualism/collectivism construct to the buyer-seller relationship constructs of
social and structural bonding. They characterized individualistic national cultures as those with
less interpersonal orientation (i.e. social bonding), while collectivist national cultures would have
high needs of interpersonal orientation (i.e., high social bonding). Based on an empirical study of
international buyer-seller relationships from the United States, Germany, Costa Rica, and Jamaica
the authors confirmed their hypothesis that buyers from collectivist countries had the strongest
18
desire for social bonding. Conversely, buyers from highly individualistic countries had the
strongest desire for structural bonding. This finding is corroborated by Malhotra et. al., (1994)
who argue that business respondents developing countries give more importance to social
interaction and personal connectivity than do their counterparts from developed countries.
From the above discussion we conclude that buyers from collectivist countries will give
more emphasis to interpersonal orientation and will attach great importance to social bonding.
Buyers from individualistic countries, on the other hand, will place more emphasis on the tasks to
be performed and will attach greater importance to structural bonding. The following
propositions address this point:
P8 Social bonding as an antecedent to relationship commitment will be given
relatively higher importance by collectivist societies than individualistic
societies.
P9 Structural bonding as an antecedent to relationship commitment will be given
higher importance by individualistic societies than collectivities societies.
Cooperation
Cooperation refers to the extent to which parties in a working relationship help one
another and coordinate their actions (Anderson and Narus, 1990). Dwyer (1980) tested and found
that cooperation and satisfaction are correlated. Anderson and Narus (1990) found a strong,
indirect, positive relationship between cooperation and satisfaction; cooperation is linked to
satisfaction through trust.
Cooperation and national culture. According to (Triandis et. al., 1993), the
socialization patterns that are found in collectivist cultures emphasize obedience, duty, sacrifice
for group, cooperation, favoritism towards the in-group, acceptance of in-group authorities,
nurturing, and interdependence. The patterns that are found in individualist cultures emphasize
independence, self-reliance, creativity, and acceptance of disobedience. In individualistic
cultures people are very good at entering and leaving groups, but do not develop deep and lasting
relationships with the same frequencies as collectivists. By contrast, in collectivist cultures people
are very shy, or less able to enter new groups, but tend to establish more intimate and long-lasting
relationships that do individualists. Therefore, the collectivist buyers will attach more importance
on cooperation between buyer and seller than individualistic buyers. As such, the proposition
follows:
P10 Cooperation as an antecedent of trust and satisfaction will be given higher
importance by buyers from collectivistic societies and will be given less
importance in individualistic societies.
Satisfaction
Gronroos (1991) stresses the importance of continuously assessing customer satisfaction
in a relationship-marketing situation. Higher levels of satisfaction have been found to lead to
higher levels of commitment. Satisfaction with a service provider acts as a mediating variable
between two related variables, trust and social bonding, and the outcome variable of commitment
(Gladstein, 1984; Kelly and Davis, 1994; Hocutt, 1998). Their findings indicate that satisfaction
has a direct effect upon trust and an indirect effect upon commitment through trust.
Satisfaction and national culture. In high power distance cultures, an asymmetric
balance of power exists between the relatively powerful and relatively weak partners. The more
powerful partners often exercise power by using coercive strategies to achieve their objectives. In
19
these cultures, the relatively powerful partners do not consult with their weaker counterpart. On
the other hand, in low power distance cultures, consultative and participative decision-making is
more common between powerful and weaker parties. The distribution of power tends to be more
symmetric and a greater recognition of mutual inter-dependence between powerful and weak
partners tends to occur. Consequently, the frequency of using coercion in these cultures is less
common. Frazier and Summers (1984; 1986) demonstrated that the dealers expressing less
satisfaction with the inter-firm relationship are more likely to dissolve their relationship when
their manufacturer uses coercion to achieve their objectives. Additionally, their empirical tests
confirmed that firms from low power distance cultures do not consciously use coercion in their
influence attempts. Kale and Mclntyre (1991) opine that firms experiencing less power in high
power distance societies would experience relatively lower levels of satisfaction in the channel
relationship compared with similar firms in low power distance societies. With respect to
satisfaction, proposition eleven and twelve posits that:
P11 Satisfaction will be the antecedent of trust for all buyers regardless of
individualism, power distance, or long-term orientation contexts.
P12 Buyers having low power in high power distance societies will perceive
relatively less satisfaction in comparison with buyers with similar power in low
power distance societies.
Trust
Trust is a fundamental relationship building block and is included in many relationship-
marketing models (Wilson, 1995). The centrality of trust in developing long-term relationships
has been emphasized repeatedly in the marketing channels literature (e.g., Anderson and Weitz,
1989; Dwyer et. al., 1987; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Even though a number of factors have been
proposed, three characteristics of trust appear often in the literature: ability, benevolence, and
integrity. As a set, the three characteristics appear to explain a major portion of trustworthiness
(Mayer et. al., 1995). Ganeson (1994) found that the long-term orientation towards partners is a
function of the amount of trust embedded in the relationship. Trust has been reported to be an
important precondition for increased commitment (Miettila and Moler, 1990).
Trust and national culture. Doney et. al., (1998) developed a model that conceptualized how
national culture affects the development of trust in the buyer-seller relationship. Specifically, the
five cognitive trust building processes in business relationships (i.e., calculative, prediction,
capability, intentionality, and transference) conceptualized by Doney and Cannon (1997) are
proposed as differentiating factors in cross-cultural relationships. Their research suggests that
those cultures exhibiting a high degree of individualism and low power distance will determine
trust by analytical means (calculative and capability processes). In contrast, trust is built more on
intentionality and transference in collectivist and high power distance cultures.
Individualist societies are characterized by a self-orientated and “loose” interpersonal
relationship culture. On the other hand, collectivist societies are characterized by a group-
oriented and “tight” interpersonal relationship culture. A buyer’s trust in a sales person is likely to
be a driver of commitment and long-term orientation only in cultures which emphasize greater
importance on interaction and group-oriented relationships. When performance evaluation is
based on individual achievement and rewards are measured on the level of performance only,
then short-term gains (such as good pricing and delivery time) are given greater importance. Less
relationship-oriented cultures are more likely to choose a supplier primarily based on objective
performance criteria. Conversely, buyers in more relationship- oriented cultures are more likely
to prefer dealing with firms and sales people whom they can trust.
As mentioned earlier, Malhotra et. al., (1994) indicated that developing countries give
more importance to social interaction and personal connectivity than developed countries. In a
20
similar vein, Adler et. al., (1987) found that relationships were more important to Mexican
negotiators (collectivists) than to negotiators from the United States(individualists). Although
Mexican negotiators made less profit, nonetheless, they achieved higher levels of satisfaction and
interpersonal relationships.
The research evidence indicates that individualistic-based cultures are task oriented
whereas collectivist-based societies tend to be interaction oriented. As the individualist culture
gives low priority to interpersonal relationships, trust in the sales person will not carry so much
importance with them for commitment and long-term orientation. In contrast, collectivist cultures
are characterized by their interaction and group orientation. Collectivists value interpersonal and
social relationships. Trust is therefore a key driver for long-term orientation of buyers. This
implication leads to the prediction that trust will not be considered as important to the
individualistic, low power distance, short-term oriented buyer.
Interestingly, (Kale and Barnes 1992) have argued that high power-distance societies
typically view outsiders as threats and, as a result, show less inclination towards an initial trusting
relationship. People in such societies will discuss business only after developing trust in the
person. Conversely, people in low power distance societies feel less threatened by outsiders and
tend to trust them more. Thus, high power distance cultures consider trust as a more important
factor for commitment and long term relationships compared to low power distance cultures. Our
thirteenth proposition follows:
P13 Trust in the seller as an antecedent to relationship commitment and long term
relationship will be of higher importance for collectivistic, high power distance
buyers than for individualistic, low power distance cultures.
Commitment
Commitment indicates the motivation one possesses to maintain a relationship.
Commitment is an important variable in discriminating between “stayers and leavers”
(Mummalaneni, 1987). The determinants of a long-term, mutually profitable buyer-seller
relationship have been established as including trust at the initial stages of the relationship
development leading to commitment in the more advanced stage (Dwyer et. al., 1987; Ganeson,
1994; Wilson, 1995). Commitment is the most significant and critical variable for future long-
term stability of buyer seller relationships. Commitment, according to Dwyer et. al., (1987, p-19)
refers to “an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners.”
Furthermore, the authors consider commitment to be the most advanced phase of the buyer-seller
relationship. Wilson and Mummalanei (1988) argue that the greater the commitment of the
organization to a specific relationship, the greater the stability of relationship. In turn, this
increased stability will lead to a longer duration of the relationship.
Kumar, Hibbard and Stern (1994) distinguish two different types of commitment:
affective and calculative. Affective commitment connotes a general positive feeling towards the
exchange partner. Calculative commitment, on the other hand, refers to firm’s motivation to
continue relationship on the basis of the net extrinsic benefits received. Trust leads to affective
commitment or, in other wards, a strong desire to maintain a relationship (Wetzels et.al., 2000) .
On the other hand, basing relationships on the perceived cost benefit ratios of the service provider
relative to other competitors leads to calculative commitment. Calculative commitment is based
on an economic rationale whereas affective commitment devolves from a psychological
predisposition based on economic and non-economic aspects (Geyskens et. al., 1996).
Commitment and national culture. The general culture in a collectivistic society is
described as interactive and group-oriented. Members of these cultures give more importance to
friendship and personal feelings in deciding whether or not to continue business relationships.
21
Buyers from collectivist cultures give more importance to personal relationships over
relationships based on economic benefits. According to Hui and Trandis (1986), individualists
decide and act on the basis of whether an action leads to personal gain. Thus, individualists are
generally described as task-oriented cultures where people count economic benefits more
important over personal relationship for continuing inter-personal relationships. Thus,
propositions for commitment are stated as follows:
P14 Relationship commitment will be positively related to long-term orientation.
P15 Calculative commitment as an antecedent of long-term relationships will be
higher in individualistic societies than in collectivist societies.
P16 Affective commitment as an antecedent of long-term relationships will be higher
in collectivist societies than in individualistic societies.
Conclusion
Several propositions clearly emerge from the above discussion. A number of Hofstede’s
national culture dimensions are important in understanding service quality and long-term buyer-
seller interpersonal relationships. Individualism/collectivism, power distance, and long-term
orientation are linked to perceptions and relational formation patterns across cultures. To ignore
the impacts of cultural differences is to run a risk that marketing practices in one country may
prove to be insufficient in another. This paper attempts to provide insights for marketing theorists
and practitioners about the relative importance of relationship marketing practices across different
cultures. The next step in our work is to develop testable hypotheses and structure a
measurement model in order to verify the propositions outlined in the paper.
References provided from authors upon request
22
ASAC 2002 Bruce Huhmann
Winnipeg, Manitoba Najam Saqib (student)
I. H. Asper School of Business
University of Manitoba
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF BILL C-55: LIFTING THE BAN ON
SLPIT-RUN VERSIONS OF FOREIGN MAGAZINES
One of a magazine’s main sources of revenue is the audience it sells to advertisers. After
34 years of protecting the domestic market for magazine advertising, the Canadian
government passed Bill C-55, which opened this market to foreign competition in 1999.
This paper investigates the impact of Bill C-55 on the Canadian magazine industry.
Introduction
Globalization is changing the world in which we live. While governments often welcome
the economic benefits of globalization, fear of losing a nation’s cultural identity often leads
governments to adopt policies of cultural protectionism, which are aimed at maintaining one’s
cultural industries (e.g., motion pictures, music, television programming, literature, and
periodicals). However, critics of cultural protectionism often charge that this is merely a rouse to
protect domestic industries from foreign competition.
The current paper examines the impact of cultural protectionism on the Canadian
magazine industry. In 1999, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-55, which opened the
Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition for the first time in over three
decades. We examine industry data and conduct a content analysis of top-selling Canadian
magazines and U.S. magazines sold in Canada to investigate the impact of Bill C-55.
Cultural Protectionism: The Case of Canadian Magazine Advertising
Cultural products are a growing proportion of international trade (Scott, 2000). While
supporters of cultural protectionism point to the necessity of protecting cultural industries from
larger foreign (often U.S.) competition to maintain the integrity of the domestic culture (e.g.,
Nordenstreng and Varis, 1974; Sreberny-Mohammadi, 1990; Tunstall, 1977), critics charge this is
merely a convenient excuse for offering domestic firms easy access to profitable markets (Chadha
and Kavoori, 2000; Hoskins and McFadyen, 1991; Scott, 2000). Changes in the Canadian
magazine industry will examined to investigate the relative merits of the arguments for and
against cultural protectionism.
Canada never closed its borders to the distribution of U.S. magazines. Therefore, the
paid magazine circulation was always open to foreign competition, which led to U.S. magazines
garnering about 80 percent of all newsstand sales in Canada even before Bill C-55 ended the
split-run ban. However, the domestic magazine advertising market was largely protected from
foreign competition. The cultural protection policies of the Canadian government kept domestic
magazines from having to compete with foreign rivals for a share of this lucrative market with
revenues of $672 million in 1999 (TV Basics, 2000). However, the anti-competitive nature of this
market seems to have been responsible for mediocre products, because Canadian advertisers did
not seem very interested in buying the audiences that Canadian magazines were offering.
Magazine ad spending, at 6.9% of the total media spending in Canada, was less than half of the
18% of media spending devoted to magazines in the U.S. in 1999 (Magazine Publishers of
America, 2001; TV Basics, 2000).
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23
Until a World Trade Organization ruling in 1997, Canada provided favorable postal rates
soley for Canadian magazines and tax breaks for firms advertising in Canadian magazines, but
levied an 80% excise tax on ad revenue from split-run editions of foreign magazines. This
effectively barred new split-run editions (existing split-run editions of Time and Reader’s Digest
were grandfathered). Split-run editions are versions of a magazine with advertising and
sometimes editorial material tailored to a particular geographic audience. For example, U.S-
based Hearst Magazines International publishes 36 split-run editions of Cosmopolitan and 10
split-run editions of Esquire for various international audiences (Granatstein and Masterton,
1999). After the WTO ruling, the Canadian Parliament drew up the Foreign Publishers
Advertising Act, which eliminated the preferential treatment in postal rates enjoyed by Canadian
magazines, but made it a criminal offense for Canadian firms to advertise in foreign magazines
with fines of up to $250,000. Thus, Canada was able to maintain the protection of its domestic
magazine advertising market for the benefit of Canadian publishers.
After the U.S. threatened to implement US$3 billion in retaliatory measures, a trade war
was averted through the compromise legislation Bill C-55. Bill C-55 allows Canadian advertisers
to buy ads in split-run editions of foreign magazines and receive a tax deduction for the
advertising expense of 50% (100% if the split-run edition features at least 80% unique or
Canadian content). The only major restriction on foreign publishers is that they are still barred
from full ownership of Canadian publishers or magazines (Granatstein, 1999).
While U.S. publishers and Canadian advertisers were pleased with the compromise,
Canadian publishers were not very happy at the time. U.S. publishers said that their Canadian
counterparts should not feel threatened by the deal because they believe spending for magazine
ads will increase as more magazine options available to advertisers (Granatstein and Masterton,
1999). Canadian publishers, however, feared that magazine ad spending would shift from
Canadian magazines to split-run editions of U.S. magazines. U.S. publishers also claimed that if
Canadian magazines were forced to compete for ad dollars with split-run editions of foreign
magazines, their editorial product would become much stronger (Stein, 1999).
Study 1
Study 1 uses industry data to examine the health of the Canadian magazine industry. If
Bill C-55 has indeed shifted magazine ad spending away from Canadian magazines to split-run
editions of foreign magazines, we would expect to see Canadian publishers lower the rates they
charge for advertisements placed in their publications in an attempt to remain competitive. Also,
the end to lower postage rates for Canadian periodicals may have hurt circulation as Canadian
magazines passed higher mailing costs onto subscribers. Thus, if the adherents to the need for
cultural protectionism are correct, we would expect the passage of Bill C-55 in 1999 to:
H1: Decrease rates for ad placement in Canadian magazines and
H2: Decrease circulation of Canadian magazines.
Method
Study 1 looks at trends in advertising rate data for English-language Canadian magazines
and circulation data for English-language Canadian magazines and U.S. magazines sold in
Canada over the period 1996 to 2000. French-language Canadian magazines were not
investigated because the threat of U.S. split-run magazines, which are almost entirely in English,
is substantially less for the French-language Canadian magazines. The source for the data used in
this study came from the monthly Canadian Advertising Rates & Data, published by Maclean
Hunter, Toronto, and the yearly Media Digest, published by the Canadian Media Directors’
Council, which relies on Print Measurement Bureau data. To eliminate any influence of missing
24
data for advertising rates or circulation, only magazines for which data was available all five
years were used in calculating the aggregate sums and averages.
Results
One indicator of the health of an advertising medium is the amount charged for ad
placement. We picked two common ad rate benchmarks, the rates for one-page black-and-white
ads and one-page four-color bleed ads. The term bleed means that an ad is printed without
margins, which is typically more expensive than an ad with margins. As shown in Figure 1, after
an initial minor decrease in both ad rates immediately following Bill C-55 in 1999, ad rates rose
slightly higher in 2000 than they had been in the period preceding Bill C-55. Therefore,
Hypothesis 1 is not supported.
Circulation is another primary indicator of the health of a periodical. Media Digest
reports the circulation for Canadian consumer magazines with an audited circulation of at least
30,000 and U.S. consumer magazines with a paid Canadian circulation of at least 25,000. While
this omits many smaller publications, it provides circulation for all of the leading Canadian
magazines and U.S. magazines sold in Canada. The circulation data for the individual magazines
were totaled to create Figure 2. After an initial drop from 1996 to 1997, circulation for Canadian
magazines has been relatively unchanged for the period 1997 to 2000. Circulation for U.S.
magazines sold in Canada has been slowly declining since 1996. Hypothesis 2 also does not
seem to be supported as no significant drop in the circulation of Canadian magazines after the
passage of Bill C-55 was observed.
Discussion
Looking at the advertising rate and circulation data for the English-language Canadian
magazine industry seems to indicate little impact of opening the Canadian magazine advertising
industry to foreign competition. Advertising rates, which dropped slightly in 1999, perhaps in
anticipation of a negative impact on advertising in Canadian magazines, have since recovered.
The circulation of Canadian magazines took a nosedive from 1996 to 1997 for which the growth
of the Internet as an information and entertainment medium may be to blame, but not the end of
government protection of the magazine ad market. In the years immediately before and after
opening the Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition, circulation of
English-language Canadian magazines was relatively stable. U.S. magazines available in Canada
do not appear to have received any boon, at least in terms of increased circulation, from
elimination of anti-competitive postage and advertising legislation, which protected their
Canadian competition from these U.S. magazines.
Study 2:
While advertising rates and circulation are good indicators of the health of periodicals, it
does not always take declining ad rates or circulation for a periodical to cease operations. For
example, when the general-interest magazines Look and Life died in 1971 and 1972, they still had
a combined audience of 70 million readers per issue. It only became apparent that these two
publications were in trouble when one looks at the number of ad pages. Ad pages for Life and
Look had dropped 33% from 4,834 in 1966 to 3,196 in 1970 (Perlstein, 2001). A magazine can
only turn the ad rate into ad revenue when their consumers, the advertisers, place an ad.
Why did the number of ad pages, and hence the ad revenue, for Life and Look, as well as
other general interest magazines (e.g., Saturday Evening Post) decrease in the late 1960s and
early 1970s? Because the primary product created and sold by a magazine, or any other
advertiser-supported medium, is its audience (Napoli, 2001). While large circulation indicates a
large audience, advertisers are interested in reaching as many members of their target market as
25
possible in the most cost-effective way. A large circulation magazine is not always as valuable to
an advertiser as a magazine more precisely targeted to the advertiser’s desired target market.
Thus, in the U.S., starting in the early 1970s, many general interest magazines have floundered,
whereas magazines targeted to specific demographic or psychographic groups have proliferated.
For the advertiser, not only is a specialty magazine a better buy in terms of being more precisely
targeted to the desired target market, it may also reach that target market at a lower cost. For
example, suppose that a manufacturer of kayak equipment wanted to place an ad to reach a target
market of kayak enthusiasts. A one-page, four-color, bleed ad could be placed in the
newsmagazine Macleans and reach a general audience of 502,786 Canadians for $31,330 in 2000,
but only a small part of this large general audience would be interested in kayaking.
Alternatively, the same ad could be placed in Canadian Geographic and reach 223,501
Canadians interested in the outdoors for $11,175. Since kayak enthusiasts are primarily located
on the Pacific coast, the ad could be placed in B.C. Outdoor, which is even more focused on a
specific target market of 27,381 Canadians, for only $4,084.
Canadian magazines tend to be less specialized than their U.S. competition, because the
size of the Canadian market made developing editorial content for more specialized Canadian
magazines unprofitable. However, U.S. split-run magazines, which use the editorial content
already developed for the U.S. editions, but sell ads to Canadian advertisers desiring more
specific target market at a lower cost, are widely feared to be the nemesis of the Canadian
magazine industry (Granatstein and Masterton, 1999). Due to the advertisers’ desire for buying
ads in media vehicles focused on specific demographic and psychographic groups, U.S. split-run
magazines should have the greatest negative impact on general audience Canadian magazines.
Decreasing advertiser interest in buying the audience product of these Canadian magazines since
the opening of the Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition should be seen
in:
H3: declining numbers of ad pages per issue,
H4: shrinking ad sizes, and
H5: decreasing use of formats that increase the cost of an ad (i.e., color, bleed, mail-in
cards attached to the ad, and smaller than magazine-sized inserts).
Finally, if Canadian magazines are suffering decreasing profitability, the resulting cutbacks in
printing costs and staff should be seen in:
H6: a declining number of editorial pages.
Method
To test the impact of the end of cultural protectionism on the Canadian magazine
industry, and especially Canadian general interest magazines, four of the most read, nationally-
distributed Canadian consumer magazines according to the 1998-1999 Media Digest were
selected. The magazines were Homemaker’s Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Chatelaine, and
Canadian Living. For comparison against some specific U.S. competitors, four high circulation
U.S. consumer magazines sold in Canada (National Geographic, People, Young and Modern, and
Good Housekeeping) were also selected. The ads in these eight magazines were content analyzed
to investigate the impact of Bill C-55 on a sample of specific magazines. These magazines, as the
leading magazines sold in Canada, should serve as a bellweather for any changes precipitated by
Bill C-55.
Two judges were hired and trained to code the December issues of these 8 magazines
from 1998 (immediately preceding the passage of Bill C-55), 1999 (immediately after the passage
26
of Bill C-55), and 2000 (one year after Bill C-55). If the magazine was a weekly or biweekly, the
first December issue was coded. To measure the impact of Bill C-55, the following categories
were coded: the number of editorial and ad pages in each magazine issue; the size of each ad (a
ten-level variable ranging from 0 “1/4 to less than 1/2 a page” to 9 “4 or more pages”); whether or
not the ad was on a front or back cover; and the use of color, bleed, attached mail-in cards, and
smaller than magazine-sized inserts for each ad.
Results
In total 1,763 ads were coded, 983 from Canadian magazines and 780 from U.S.
magazines. To test Hypothesis 3, the number of ad pages for the four Canadian and four U.S.
magazines were examined. As shown in Figure 3, the overall number of ad pages for both the
Canadian and U.S. magazines is increasing. The same trend is seen when the Canadian
magazines are examined individually. Reader’s Digest increased its ad pages from 46 in 1998 to
53 in 1999 to 65 in 2000. Canadian Living increased its ad pages from 104 in 1998 to 113 in
1999 to 120 in 2000. Chatelaine’s ad pages have gone from 99 in 1998 to 87 in 1999 to 113 in
2000. The only exception to the trend is Homemaker’s in which ad pages have dropped from 66
in 1998 to 60 in 1999 to 57 in 2000. In general, the data fail to support Hypothesis 3.
Hypothesis 4 predicts shrinking ad sizes for Canadian magazines due to the opening of
the Canadian magazine ad market to foreign competition. Ad size was a ten-level variable
ranging from smallest, 0 “1/4 to less than 1/2 a page,” to largest, 9 “4 or more pages.” In 1998,
the average size of an ad in a Canadian magazine was 3.18 ( a 3 represents a full-page ad). In
1999, this increased to 3.29 and, by 2000, it had increased again to 3.32. In contrast, average ad
sizes for the U.S. magazines decreased from 3.10 in 1998 to 3.03 in 1999 to 2.92 in 2000.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows a significant difference between the results for the
Canadian and U.S. magazines (F(1, 1754) = 10.653, p = .001), but no significant difference
across years overall or interacting with the magazines’ country of origin. The lack of evidence
for shrinking ad sizes leads to the rejection of Hypothesis 4.
Hypothesis 5 predicts less use of ad elements (i.e., color, bleed, mail-in cards attached to
the ad, and smaller than magazine-sized inserts) that increase ad costs due to the opening of the
Canadian magazine ad market to foreign competition. The usage of these elements was counted
for each ad. For Canadian magazines, the average number of these cost-increasing elements was
1.91 per ad in 1998, 1.83 in 1999, and 1.87 in 2000. For U.S. magazines, the average number of
these elements per ad was 1.71 in 1998 and 1.76 in both 1999 and 2000. ANOVA shows no main
effect of year, but a main effect of country of origin (F(1, 1757) = 29.319, p < .001) and a
marginally significant interaction between country of origin and year (F(2, 1757) = 2.618, p =
.073).
Hypothesis 6 predicts a decline in the number of editorial pages. Figure 3 shows that the
number of editorial pages in Canadian magazines has been decreasing, whereas the number of
editorial pages in U.S. magazines have been increasing since the passage of Bill C-55. When
looking at the Canadian magazines individually, the number of editorial pages in Reader’s Digest
has gone from 147 in 1998 to 164 in 1999 to 138 in 2000. The editorial pages for Canadian
Living have dropped from 145 in 1998 to 127 in 1999 to 113 in 2000. The editorial pages for
Homemaker’s have gone from 121 in 1998 to 90 in 1999 to 100 in 2000. For Chatelaine,
however, the editorial pages have increased from 94 in 1998 to 106 in 1999 to 124 in 2000.
Discussion
Unlike the dire predictions voiced by Canadian publishers before the opening of their
previously protected ad revenue market, ad revenue indicators (e.g., the number of ad pages, the
27
average size of ads, and the use of cost-enhancing ad elements) have increased or stayed constant
for Canadian magazines. This indicates that the Canadian magazines have maintained their
competitiveness in the advertising market since the passage of Bill C-55. However, the number
of editorial pages in Canadian magazines have decreased, which suggests that Canadian
publishers are cutting back on printing costs and staff. This may be in anticipation of a negative
impact on profitability that has not come to pass.
General Discussion
The two studies presented in this paper examine the health of the Canadian magazine
industry before and after the end of 34 years of cultural protectionism. Bill C-55, which opened
the Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition, was greatly feared by
Canadian publishers and greatly heralded by Canadian advertisers and U.S. publishers. In
addition to the obvious differences in self-interest between the groups, different theoretical
stances toward globalization led to the vast disagreement regarding the impact of Bill C-55.
Canadian advertisers and the U.S. publishers held that opening the Canadian magazine
advertising market to foreign competition would make Canadian magazine editorial content
stronger because, once Canadian advertisers had a choice as to where to spend their magazine ad
dollars, Canadian publishers would have to deliver desirable target markets to advertisers through
their audiences. To increase their audience, Canadian magazines would have to offer better or
more interesting content. The views of the Canadian advertisers and U.S. publishers reflect
Adam Smith’s theory that the invisible hand of the free market will deliver the best quality
products to consumers. The views of the Canadian publishers reflect the theoretical belief in
cultural protectionism as a necessary barrier to entry, which preserves the cultural identity of
smaller national markets that can never achieve the economies of scale realized by their
competitors from larger national markets.
Interestingly, the results of the two studies reported here appear to support the value of
the free market over cultural protectionism. The end of protectionism has not resulted in a
significant drop in circulation or ad rates, as shown in Study 1, nor a significant drop in ad
revenue indicators (e.g., the number of ad pages, the average size of ads, and the use of cost-
enhancing ad elements). Cultural protectionism seems unnecessary, since, as pointed out by
Straubhaar (1991), consumers gravitate to media vehicles that proximate their own culture. Only
in editorial pages, was a marginally significant drop for Canadian magazines across the years of
the study contrasted with an increase for U.S. magazines.
Another change that has been recently adopted in the Canadian magazine industry should
also help the industry seem more attractive to advertisers. The Print Measurement Bureau has
changed from a Through The Book (TTB) to Recent Reading (RR) methodology for calculating
readers per copy (RPC). This change was endorsed by 91% of Canadian magazine publishers
(Powell, 2001). Among English language Canadian magazines, the change in methodology
increased the average number of readers per copy from 2.3 to 5.9 and the total combined
readership for the 92 measured publications jumped from 45 million to 105 million. The change
was partially implemented because RR is the standard used in the U.S. magazine industry, so
TTB made Canadian magazines appeared to be under-performing in comparison.
The price of cultural protectionism appears to be mediocrity. Cultural industries that are
not forced to compete in open and free markets produce products which no one craves. Such
appeared to be the case with the Canadian magazine industry. Canadian consumers did not crave
the editorial content of Canadian magazines. Even with higher subscription and cover prices than
domestic magazines, U.S. magazines represented over half the magazines sold in Canada and
83% of newsstand sales before the passage of Bill C-55 (Granatstein and Masterton, 1999).
Canadian advertisers also did not crave the audiences offered by Canadian magazines, which
resulted in a much lower proportion of media spending devoted to magazines in Canada than in
28
the U.S. A similar situation is seen in the French film industry, where protectionism has changed
a leading international film-producing country into one with shrinking domestic and international
markets for its products, due to slowly declining quality overall (Scott, 2000). Future research is
needed to follow up on this study in future years and see if the Canadian magazine industry will
continue to be competitive in its own domestic circulation and advertising markets, as well as if
the opening of the market to foreign competition strengthens the industry into producing more
desirable editorial content for readers and more precisely defined audiences for advertisers.
References
Chadha, Kalyani and Kavoori, Anandam Kavoori, “Media Imperialism Revisited: Some Findings
from the Asian Case,” Media, Culture and Society, 22 (July 2000), 415-432.
Granatstein, Lisa, “Crossing the Border”, Mediaweek, (May 31, 1999), 50.
Granatstein, Lisa and John Masterton, “A Border War Brews”, Mediaweek, (Jan. 18, 1999), 42.
Hoskins, Colin and McFadyen, Stuart McFadyen, “The U.S. Competitive Advantage in the
Global Television Market: Is It Sustainable in the New Broadcasting Environment?” Canadian
Journal of Communication, 16 (1991), 207-224.
Magazine Publishers of America, “Magazines’ Share of Media Spending,” SalesEdge, (October
8, 2001), 1.
Napoli, Philip M., “The Audience Product and the New Media Environment: Implications for the
Economics of Media Industries,” International Journal of Media Management, 3 (September
2001), 66-73.
Nordenstreng, Kaarle and Tapio Varis, Television Traffic -- A One-Way Street? Paris, France:
UNESCO, 1974.
Perlstein, Rick, “People Take to People; It’s the Age of Celebrity,” Columbia Journalism Review,
(November/December 2001), 76-77.
Powell, Chris, “Readership Takes Off,” Marketing Magazine, (October 1, 2001), 10-11.
Scott, Allen J., “Economy, Policy and Place in the Making of a Cultural-Products Industry,”
Theory, Culture & Society, 17 (February 2000), 1-38.
Sreberny-Mohammadi, A., “The Global and the Local in International Communications,” in
James Curran and Michael Gurevitch (eds.) Mass Media and Society, London: Edward Arnold
1990.
Stein, Nicholas, “ Magazine Trade Wars”, Columbia Journalism Review, (Jan/Feb 1999), 20-21.
Straubhaar, J.D., “Beyond Media Imperialism: Asymetrical Interdependence and Cultural
Proxemity,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8(1991), 39-59.
Tunstall, Jeremy, The Media are American: Anglo-American Media in the World, New York:
Columbia University Press, 1977.
TV Basics 2000-2001, Toronto, ON: Television Bureau of Canada, 2000.
29
Figure 1: One-page Advertising Rate for Canadian Magazines Available all Five Years
10,921.78
10,416.10
10,669.39
10,550.01
10,608.51
8,882.39
8,215.36
8,616.98
8,495.83
8,617.38
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Four-color bleed Black-and-white
30
Figure 2: Circulation for Canadian Magazines and U.S. Magazines Sold in Canada
5,035,427
4,830,123
4,568,295
4,428,577
4,267,556
15,858,322
15,220,829
16,245,719
16,436,752
19,408,876
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
U.S. magazines Canadian magazines
31
Figure 3: Total Number of Editorial and Ad Pages
507
487
475
484
415
425
355
313
315
227
233
320
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
1998 1999 2000
Number of Pages
Canadian Magazines Editorial Pages U.S. Magazines Editorial Pages
Canadian Magazines Ad Pages U.S. Magazines Ad Pages
32
ASAC 2002
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Sergio Román (Assistant Professor)
José Luis Munuera (Professor)
Salvador Ruiz (Associate Professor)
Marketing Department
Faculty of Business and Economics
University of Murcia (Spain)
DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR: AN
EMPIRICAL STUDY ON SALESPEOPLE
This study proposes a model that identifies some organizational and personal
antecedents and consequences of the ethical behavior of salespeople. The findings
suggest that control system and method of compensation are important determinants of
ethical behavior. Also, age is a significant antecedent of ethical behavior. However, job
experience and education are not significantly related to ethical behavior. Additionally,
salesperson’s ethical behavior leads to lower levels of role conflict and higher levels of
job satisfaction, but not to higher performance. A discussion of the main implications is
presented and managerial implications are given.
Introduction
In today’s competitive environment, the pressure to perform is becoming increasingly intense
(Schewepker and Ingram, 1996). Consequently, many in today’s work force are turning to
unethical practices in an attempt to simply keep their jobs, or derive some benefit for their
companies (Labich, 1992).
Concern about business ethics has resulted in the development of several positive and
normative frameworks for analyzing ethical issues in marketing (Chonko and Hunt, 2000).
Business are likewise responding to the concern about ethics. According to a survey of Fortune
1,000 companies, over 40% of the respondents are conducting ethics seminars and workshops,
and approximately one-third have set un an ethics committee (Labich, 1992).
Sales professionals have been frequent targets of ethical criticism (Abratt and Penman, 2002).
There are several reasons for focusing specific attention on salespeople’s ethical behavior. First,
salespeople work apart from each other, experiencing little daily contact with supervisors,
subordinates or peers (Dubinsky et al., 1986). During these unsupervised time periods the
salesperson may lose sight or even ignore the ethical codes of the organization (Lagace et al.,
1991). Second, salespeople may feel pressure to perform more than other career types and, hence,
may be forced to engage in unethical behavior in order to retain their jobs (Wotruba, 1990).
Third, sales negotiations may set the stage for dishonesty or exaggeration (Bellizi and Hite,
1989). Unethical salesperson behavior, such us overstating the capabilities of a product, could
cause a dispute with the customer, maybe even resulting in litigation (Boedecker et al., 1991).
Despite the importance of understanding salespeople’s ethical behavior, only a few studies
have empirically addressed the antecedents and consequences of such behavior (McClaren,
2000), and none of them, to our knowledge, has simultaneously analyzed the antecedents and
consequences of such behavior. The purpose of this research is to gain a clearer understanding of
the determinants and consequences of the ethical behavior of salespeople. More specifically, we
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Veuillez Renvoyer à la Table des Matières de Section
33
aim, on the one hand, to explore some organizational factors (salesforce control system and
reward system) and some personal factors (age, experience and education) affecting the
salesperson’s ethical behavior and, on the other hand, to analyze the effects of this behavior on
the salesperson’s role conflict, performance and satisfaction (see figure 1). First, we develop a
conceptual framework and present the hypotheses to be tested in our study. Then, we briefly
describe the research method and present the major results. We then conclude by suggesting the
key implications of our results.
Figure 1
Conceptual Model
?
1
RE
?
2
CS
?
3
P
?
4
JS
?
2
RC-I
?
1
EB
H3(+)
H1(+)
H2(+)
H6(-)
?
3
AGE
H7(+)
H9(+)
?
4
EX
?
5
EDU
H4(+)
H5(+)
H8(+)
Theoretical background and research hypotheses
Ethics refers to the right and wrong conduct of individuals, it requires an individual to behave
according to the rules of moral philosophy (Gundlach and Murphy, 1993). Ethical selling
behavior is a highly elusive construct and is often situation-specific (Lagace et al., 1991).
Nonetheless, research has identified the main sales practices considered as very unethical: lie or
exaggerate about the benefits of a product, lie about availability to make a sale, sell products that
people do not need, give answers when the answer is not really known, and implement
manipulative influence tactics or high-pressure selling techniques (Chonko and Burnett, 1983;
Levy and Dubinsky, 1983; Lagace et al., 1991; Reidenbach et al., 1991; Tansey et al., 1994;
Verbeke et al., 1996; Singhapakdi et al., 1999). Therefore, unethical sales behavior is a short-run,
expedient perspective devoid of any sense of social responsibility (Dubinsky et al., 1991).
The reward system comprises a set of processes through which behaviors are directed and
motivated to achieve individual and collective goals (Chonko et al., 1996). Compensation plans
emphasising salary are recommended when firms want their salespeople to adopt a long-term
orientation and invest time servicing accounts to realise future sales. In contrast, plans
emphasising incentives are advocated when firms want their salespeople to get immediate sales
(John and Weitz, 1989; Howe et al., 1994). Kurland (1996) did not find a significant relationship
between the percentage of income salespeople earn from commissions and their ethical intentions
toward clients. Recently, Honeycutt et al. (2001) found that automobile salespeople whose
compensation was commission based were more likely to engage in unethical behavior, than
those whose compensation was salary based. The above leads us to propose the first hypothesis:
H1: The higher the fixed salary percentage of the salesperson, the more ethically
the salesperson will behave.
34
Initially, Anderson and Oliver (1987) defined a salesforce control system as a set of
procedures the organization has for monitoring, directing, evaluating, and compensating its
salespeople. However, we follow other researchers that have not considered the compensation
component as a part of the control system (Cravens et al., 1993; Verbeke et al., 1996; Piercy et
al., 2001). In a behavior control system a longer perspective can be assumed because immediate
results can be balanced with long-term sales relationships and outcomes (Oliver and Anderson,
1994). Additionally, quoting Ingram et al. (2001, p.69): “some salespeople do use quota pressure
as an excuse to be deceptive”. Therefore we formulate our second hypothesis:
H2: The more the salesforce control system is behavior-based, the more ethically
the salesperson will behave.
Past research suggests that age has an impact on ethical behaviors and principally proposes
that today’s youth does not have the moral fiber of its elders (Barnett and Karson, 1989). For
example, younger executives are more interested in money and advancement and less interested
in trust and honor (England, 1978). Therefore, younger salespeople who seek money,
advancement, and achievement operate in a much more competitive environment (Johnson et al.,
1986). On the other hand, ethical decision-making and intended ethical behavior, in general,
increases as individuals move from lower levels to higher levels of moral reasoning (Weber and
Grenn, 1991), and moral reasoning is directly linked to age (Honeycutt et al., 2001). Regarding
empirical evidence, Hoffman et al. (1991) and Honeycutt et al. (2001) did not find a significant
relationship between the salesperson’s age and his/her ethical behavior. However, Mason and
Mudrack (1996) reported a positive relationship between age and ethical sensitivity. Results from
Dubinsky et al. (1992) indicate that age is the only demographic factor that has a significant
impact on salespeople’s ethical perception. Accordingly we formulate the following:
H3: The older the salesperson, the more ethically the salesperson will behave.
According to Dubinsky and Ingram (1984), the longer the salespeople have been in their jobs
and have accumulated work experience, the more time they have to address or reconcile ethical
conflict. And, the greater the sales experience, the more likely the salesperson will recognize that
ethical practices are necessary for success (Honeycutt and Ford, 1993). Regarding empirical
evidence, Hoffman et al. (1991) and Singhapakdi and Vitell (1991) did not find a significant
relationship between business experience and how a salesperson perceives an ethical problem.
However, salespeople in the early stages of their careers make numerous cold calls to meet sales
quotas to build a client base. Hence, these individuals, in contrast to their more experience
counterparts, operate in a much more competitive environment on a day to day basis (Dalrymple
and Cron, 1998). Recently, Schwepker (1999) shows that there is a negative relationship between
perceived competitive intensity and salesperson’s intention to behave unethically. All the above
leads us to propose the fourth hypothesis:
H4: The more experienced the salesperson, the more ethically the salesperson will
behave.
Education is often identified as an influence of ethical decision-making (Wotruba, 1990).
According to Singhapakdi et al. (1999), education is believed to result in greater sensitivity to
different points of view and to be linked to a person’s stage of cognitive moral development.
Therefore, more educated salespeople can be expected to have a greater level of cognitive moral
development than those who are less educated (Honeycutt et al., 2001). That is to say, more
educated salespeople are less likely to engage in unethical behavior than less educated
salespeople. Accordingly, we propose that:
H5: The more educated the salesperson, the more ethically the salesperson will
behave.
35
Following Kahn et al. (1964) and Rizzo et al. (1970), role conflict can be defined in terms of
the dimensions of congruency-incongruency or compatibility-incompatibility in the requirements
of the salesperson role, where congruency or compatibility is judged relative to a set of standards
which affect role performance. Role conflict can be conceptualized in terms of the following five
conflict types or dimensions (Rizzo et al., 1970; Michaels et al., 1987): intrasender, intersender,
person-role, interrole and role overload.
Chonko and Burnett (1983) provided empirical evidence of selling ethical behavior reducing
salesperson’s role conflict. However, Dubinsky and Ingram (1984) did not find a significant
relationship between these two variables. Following Singh (2000), we understand that the use of
disaggregated conceptualization of role conflict is likely to yield clearer results. Therefore, we
focus on the relationship between ethical behavior and role conflict-intersender. Role conflict-
intersender involves conflicting expectations from two or more role partners (e.g., boss and
customers) (Singh, 2000). Customers are one of the major sources of this type of role conflict, as
they try to satisfy their own objectives and needs in a sales transaction, and are often unaware of
the policies and constraints the salesman is operating (Walker et al., 1975). Ingram et al. (2001)
recently argue that ethical selling behavior implies selling the product that the customer really
needs. Therefore we understand that salesperson’s ethical behavior will reduce role conflict at
least the percentage that is attributable to the customer, which is to say:
H6: Salesperson’s ethical behavior will negatively influence salesperson’s role
conflic-intersender.
Salesperson performance represents behaviors that are evaluated in terms of their
contributions to the goals of the organization (Walker et al., 1979; Churchill et al., 1985).
Salesperson’s ethical behavior has been found positively related to customer trust and
satisfaction, thus enhancing relationship quality and the probability of future rewards (Lagace et
al., 1991). The study carried out by Weeks and Nantel (1992) showed that those salespeople who
worked for an organization in which they understood their company policy regarding conducting
ethical business were moderately successful in their jobs. Later, Honeycutt et al. (1995) found
that high performance salespeople reported high ethical behavior, and Swepker and Ingram
(1996) have provided empirical evidence of salespeople’s moral judgements as being positively
related to their job performance. Accordingly we propose that:
H7: Salesperson’s ethical behavior will positively influence salesperson’s
performance.
Churchill et al. (1974, p. 225) defined job satisfaction as: “all characteristics of the job itself
and the work environment which (industrial) salesmen find rewarding, fulfilling, and satisfying,
or frustrating and unsatisfying”. The job satisfaction of salespeople can be weakened if they
perceived the organization rewarding the unethical behaviors of co-workers (Bellizzi and Hite,
1989). Results from Beatty et al. (1996) show that when salespeople had customers’ best interests
in mind and were honest to them, their job satisfaction increased. Recently, findings from
Schwepker’s (2001) study suggest that when an ethical climate is fostered, salesperson job
satisfaction increases. Accordingly, we formulate the following:
H8: Salesperson’s ethical behavior will positively influence salesperson’s job
satisfaction.
Some studies have not found a significant relationship between performance and satisfaction
(Brown and Peterson, 1994; Sohi, 1996) whereas others have (Bagozzi, 1980; Michaels et al.,
1987; Babakus et al., 1999). According to MacKenzie et al. (1998, p.88) “the nature of the
relationship between performance and satisfaction is still in doubt and warrants further
discussion”. Therefore, we hypothesise the following:
36
H9: Salesperson’s job performance will positively influence salesperson’s job
satisfaction.
This relationship, in turn, implies an indirect effect of the salesperson’s ethical behavior on
the job satisfaction through performance.
Method
Data Collection and Sample
In order to test the proposed conceptual model, the cooperation of three Spanish financial
service institutions of approximately the same size was obtained. Following Dubinsky et al. (1991
and 1992), salespeople from only one industry were surveyed to hold constant the type of product
sold. Prior research has found that salesperson job-related responses vary across sales settings
(Churchill et al., 1985). Following Kelley (1992) and Boorom et al. (1998) questionnaires were
administered during regularly scheduled meetings to a total of 280 financial services salespeople.
All of them completed the questionnaires. Respondents were assured that their responses would
be kept confidential and the questionnaires were immediately given to the researchers. In
exchange for salespeople completing data, we provided a sales training seminar following the
data collection so as not to bias responses. The salespeople we questioned were mainly
specializing in selling high-involvement financial products (e.g., mortgages, life insurance) to
final consumers. 83% of them were male, 60% were between 26 and 39 years old, 48% had a
college degree and 56% had a selling experience of 4 and 15 years.
Measures
All scales consisted of 10-point multiple-item Likert questions except the reward system
(RE), salesperson’s age (AGE), experience (EX) and education (EDU) that were single-item
questions, the last three were 5-point Likert questions. All scales had been used in previous
research. Following Cravens et al. (1993), the reward system (RE) was assessed as the fixed
salary percentage. Salesforce control system (CS) was measured by a 9-item scale
adapted
from Oliver and Anderson (1994) and Verbeke et al. (1996). Salesperson’s ethical behavior was
measured by a 5-item scale adapted from Lagace et al. (1991). Role conflict-intersender (RCI)
was measured by the original 2 items that composed these dimension in Rizzo’s et al. (1970)
scale. Performance (P) was measured by the 5 items that composed the “sales presentation”
dimension in Behrman and Perrault’s (1982) study. Following Dubinsky et al. (1986), job
satisfaction was assessed by a 3-item version of Hackman and Oldman (1975) scale.
All measures were then analyzed for realiability, convergent and discriminant validity by
estimating a measurement model using LISREL 8.30 (Jöreskog and Sörbom, 1996) and taking
into account the guidelines offered by Fornell and Larcker (1981), Anderson and Gerbing (1989)
and Bagozzi and Yi (1991). The resulting measurement model
(
2
(80) was 136.37 (p
This research focuses on a cross-cultural comparison of relationship marketing strategies. In this article, we review the past literature and suggest the link between national culture and buyer-seller relationships across cultures.
Volume 23, No. 3, 2002
Edited by/Édité par
Ed Bruning
University of Manitoba
Marketing
Proceedings
of the Annual conference
of the
Administrative Sciences
Association of Canada
Marketing
Division
Winnipeg, Manitoba
May 26-28, 2002
Copies of the Proceedings
may be ordered from:
Actes
de Congrès annuel
de la section
Marketing
de
l’association des sciences
administrative du Canada
Winnipeg, Manitoba
26-28 mai 2002
Des exemplaires de ces actes
peuvent être obtenus de:
Dr. Sue Bruning
I.H. Asper School of Business
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 5V4
Office/Bureau: (204) 474-6566
Fax/Télécopieur: (204) 474-7545
E-mail/Address E: [email protected]
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Veuillez Renvoyer à la Table des Matières
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a pleasure to present the
Proceedings for the 30
th
Annual
Marketing Division conference of the
Administrative Sciences Association of
Canada.
I would like to thank all of those who
have contributed to this year’s
conference and to these Proceedings. To
the authors, thanks for submitting your
papers to the conference. Setting limits
regarding papers to include in the
Proceedings and to the conference was a
challenge. To the reviewers, I appreciate
your timely and thoughtful reviews of
your colleague’s work. To the session
chairs, thanks for keeping the sessions
moving smoothly. To the conference
organizers, thanks for your time,
understanding, and patience. To the
conference attendees, thanks for your
support of this conference. Finally, I am
grateful to Charlotte Kirkpatrick for her
assistance in compiling these
proceedings.
Ed Bruning
Academic Reviewer
REMERCIEMENTS
Il me fait plaisir de présenter les Actes
du congre annuel de la division
Marketing de l’Association des sciences
administratives du Canada.
J’aimerais sincèrement remercier tous
ceux et toutes celles qui ont contribue au
congre et a l’assemblage de ces Actes
cette année. Je souhaite également
remercier tous les auteurs pour vos
articles qu’ils ont soumis au congre.
Établir les limites concernant les articles
a inclure dans les Actes et lors des
congres, representait tout un défi.
J’aimerais remercier les évaluateurs pour
l’évaluation ponctuelle et attentionnée
du travail de leurs collègues. Je voudrais
aussi remercier les organisatuers du
Congres pour leur temps, leur
compréhension et leur patience. Enfin,
je désire remercier tous les congressistes
pour leur support lors de ces Congres.
Finalement, j’aimerais remanier
Charlotte Kirkpatrick pour son
assistance en préparent les Acts.
Ed Bruning
Responsible de l’évaluation
iii
REVIEWERS/EVALUATEURS
Alain d’Astrous HEC Montreal
James Agarwal University of Regina
Pierre Balloffet HEC Montreal
Corinne Berneman HEC Montreal
Ed Bruning University of Manitoba
Marjorie Delbaere University of Manitoba
Tammi Feltham University of Saskatchewan
Gordon Fullerton Saint Mary’s University
Thomas Clarke Sonoma State University
Robert Graves King’s College
Bruce Huhmann University of Manitoba
Louise Heslop Carleton University
Richard Johnson University of Alberta
Maria Kalamas Concordia University
Kelley Main University of Manitoba
Raj Manchanda University of Manitoba
Richard Michon HEC Montreal
Harold Ogden Saint Mary’s University
Rosemary Polegato Mount Allison University
Nicolas Papadopoulos Carleton University
Susan Reid Concordia University
Philip Rosen Dalhousie University
Christopher Ross Concordia University
Judy Ann Roy University of New Brunswick
Najam Saqib University of Manitoba
Silvain Senecal HEC Montreal
Subbu Sivaramakrishnan University of Manitoba
Marjorie Wall University of Guelph
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS/TABLE DES MATIERES
Page
L’Orientation Marché dans le Domaine de la Mode: Conflit
avec la Création Artistique?………………………………………………………… 1
François Marticotte, UQAM
Service Quality and Interpersonal Relationship Expectations
in Long-Term Buyer-Seller Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Integration……… 11
Satya Dash, Indian Institute of Technology and Edward Bruning,
University of Manitoba
An Investigation of the Effect of Bill C-55: Lifting the Ban on Split-Run
Versions of Foreign Magazines……………………………………………………… 22
Bruce Huhman and Najam Saqib, University of Manitoba
Determinants and Consequences of Ethical Behavior: An
Empirical Study on Salespeople……………………………………………………. 32
Serio Román, Jose Munuera and Salvador Ruiz, University of Murcia—Spain)
ASAC MARKETING DIVISION BEST PAPER AWARD/
PRIX DU MEILLEUR TESTE
Promiscuous and Confident?: Attributions Made about
Condom Purchases…………………………………………………………………. 43
Darren Dahl, University of Manitoba, Peter Drake, University of British Columbia,
and Gerald Gorn, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
ASAC MARKETING DIVISION HONOURABLE MENTION AWARD/
MENTION HONORABLE
I’m Not Cheap, But If I Use This Coupon I Believe You’re Going
To Think I Am: The Influence of Metaperceptions Upon Coupon
Redemption…………………………………………………………………………. 53
Jennifer Argo and Kelley Main, University of Manitoba
ABSTRACTS/RESUMES ………………………………………………………… 62
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1
ASAC 2002 François Marticotte
Winnipeg, Manitoba École supérieure de mode de Montréal
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
L'ORIENTATION MARCHÉ DANS LE DOMAINE DE LA MODE :
CONFLIT AVEC LA CRÉATION ARTISTIQUE ?
La théorie nous enseigne que la recette du succès commercial pour les entreprises
créatrices de vêtements est de concilier une préoccupation élevée à la création artistique
tout en étant orientées vers le marché (i.e. "market oriented"). Une étude empirique
effectuée auprès de 117 entreprises du Québec créant et commercialisant des vêtements a
permis de tracer le profil commercial de quatre groupes d'entreprises axées sur ces deux
orientations. Les résultats confirment en partie cette supposition.
L'orientation marché et le domaine de la mode
Depuis une quinzaine d'années, notamment avec la publication de l'article de Shapiro
(1988), une nouvelle vie a été donnée à un concept qui constituait dès lors un des piliers du
marketing moderne, l'optique marketing (i.e. "marketing concept"). L'optique marketing est
considérée comme la philosophie de base en marketing, celle qui permet aux entreprises
d'atteindre leur finalité. Communément définie, l'optique marketing fait référence: " … (pour
atteindre les buts de l'organisation) à déterminer les besoins et les désirs des marchés cibles, et à
en assurer la satisfaction souhaitée avec plus d'efficacité et d'efficience que les concurrents."
(Kotler et al., 2000, p. 21). Sa popularité accrue dans la littérature ces dernières années reposerait
en fait sur les avancés conceptuels exposés de façon parallèle par Narver et Slater (1990) et Kohli
et Jaworski (1990). Ces deux groupes d'auteurs ont défini le moyen d'opérationaliser le concept
en lui collant le terme "orientation marché" (i.e. "market orientation"). Bien qu'une certaine
confusion ait existé à l'origine, il semble clair maintenant que l'optique marketing fasse référence
à une culture d'entreprise mettant le consommateur au centre de ses priorités dans le but
d'atteindre la rentabilité alors que l'orientation marché est la mesure de l'amplitude de l'adoption
de cette philosophie. Dans un contexte commercial où la concurrence ne fait que s'accentuer et où
la rentabilité demeure toujours la raison d'être des entreprises, l'adoption d'une philosophie de
gestion axée sur les besoins des consommateurs est plus alléchante que jamais. Par conséquent, le
recours à l'orientation marché ne s'en trouve que popularisé.
La réponse aux besoins des consommateurs comme moyen d'atteindre la rentabilité se
présente, théoriquement, comme une piste logique à suivre pour une majorité d'entreprises.
Historiquement, bien que cette vision soit contestée, notamment par Fullerton (1988), il s'agit du
cheminement chronologique des optiques de production, de produit et de vente. Il a toutefois été
avancé que cette philosophie de gestion n'est pas prescrite à tous. Bennett et Cooper (1981) par
exemple mettaient en garde contre l'adoption de cette philosophie. Selon eux, répondre aux
besoins des consommateurs est un moyen d'inhiber l'innovation. Hirschman (1983) quant à elle,
mentionnait qu'adhérer à cette culture d'entreprise était contraire à l'essence même de certaines
industries. Elle citait alors les domaines où évoluent les artistes et les idéologues. Sous cet angle,
une industrie semble, d'un point de vue ontologique, irréconciliable. Il s'agit de l'industrie de la
mode. Celle-ci doit constamment naviguer entre les deux pôles que sont la création artistique et
les impératifs commerciaux.
La mode éveille comme première pensée, l'expression d'une forme artistique. L'artiste,
qu'il s'agisse d'un designer ou d'un styliste (celui-ci verra éventuellement sa création exprimée
sous une troisième dimension) exprimera son œuvre comme le fait le peintre, le sculpteur ou le
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2
poète. Pour les puristes, l'intérêt de l'œuvre réside dans ce qu'elle représente. L'émotion qu'elle
suscite, la beauté qu'elle dégage, les considérations esthétiques qu'elle représente, l'originalité
qu'elle propose. Le vêtement est alors considéré comme un objet ostentatoire qui n'existe pas
pour son utilité fonctionnelle (Hirschman, 1983). L'intérêt du consommateur n'est alors tout
simplement pas au cœur des préoccupations du producteur. En conformité avec cette vision, la
commercialisation de l'objet n'est pas une prérogative. Le sont encore moins les impératifs de la
rentabilité de l'acte de création. Cette vision est éminemment différente de celle qui a préséance
dans le milieu des affaires et mise en valeur par le marketing.
D'un autre point de vue, mercantile celui-ci, la mode constitue une industrie comme les
autres. À l'échelle mondiale, il s'agit de la neuvième industrie la plus importante en ce qui a trait
aux exportations de marchandises (OMC, 2001). Au Canada seulement, l'industrie est composée
de 2 000 entreprises spécialisées employant plus de 100 000 personnes, la très grande majorité
toutefois, dans le secteur manufacturier (i.e. 85% travaillent à la production ce qui constitue 5%
des emplois manufacturiers canadiens) (Marticotte, 2001). Les entreprises ont donc intérêt, si
elles veulent connaître du succès commercial, à adopter les recettes employées dans les autres
sphères d'activités. Le recours à une optique de marketing, et par conséquent, être orienté vers le
marché, devient une solution envisageable.
Plusieurs recherches traitant de l'orientation marché ont été effectuées jusqu'à présent,
auprès d'industries non traditionnellement associées, au Canada du moins, à des impératifs de
rentabilité : services de santé (Laing et Galbraith, 1996), œuvres de charité (Balbanis et al., 1997),
la politique (O'Cass, 2001), organismes publics (Cervera et al., 2001), enseignement universitaire
(Caruana et al., 1998), théâtre (Voss et Voss, 2000). Bien peu toutefois se sont intéressées au
domaine de la mode. L'une d'elles (Ngai et Ellis, 1998) a été menée chez les manufacturiers de
vêtements de Hong Kong. Cette étude, comme plusieurs autres a montré un lien, faible toutefois,
entre l'orientation marché et la rentabilité. Parce que cette étude était centrée sur la production de
vêtements, elle a totalement évacué la notion de création.
Figure 1
Matrice élaborée par Easey (1995, p. 7)
Élevée Centrer sur le
design
Optique marketing
de la mode
Préoccupation
envers la
création Faible échec Optique marketing
faible élevée
Préoccupation envers les consommateurs
et la rentabilité
À notre connaissance, une seule étude en marketing a associé les notions de création
artistique à celles de l'orientation marché. Easey (1995) mentionne qu'il est possible pour les
entreprises évoluant dans le secteur de la mode de concilier une forte préoccupation aux aspects
artistiques à une forte préoccupation envers les consommateurs et la rentabilité. C'est ce qu'il
appelle "l'optique marketing de la mode" ("fashion marketing concept"). En s'appuyant sur ces
deux axes de préoccupation, il a élaboré une matrice présentant quatre possibilités aux entreprises
dans le secteur (figure 1). Ainsi, une entreprise faible sur les deux axes ne peut que courir à un
échec. L'entreprise fortement axée sur la création mais ayant de faibles préoccupations pour les
consommateurs et la rentabilité sera "centrée sur le design". Selon cette perspective, les designers
croient qu'ils sont la force réelle de l'entreprise et que le marketing, se résumant aux
communications de masse, a pour but de vendre les idées au public (Easey, 1995). C'est la
philosophie, souvent stéréotypée, qui est associée aux grands designers de mode. Finalement,
3
selon l'optique marketing, telle qu'envisagée par l'auteur, la création est au service de la recherche
marketing qui a été menée auprès des consommateurs. La résultante serait le nivellement du
contenu créatif à ce que l'on retrouve dans les grandes chaînes. Le marketing serait alors un
inhibiteur de créativité. La rentabilité devient ainsi, un indicateur de la popularité de la tendance.
Cette matrice élaborée par Easey (1995), purement théorique, n'a pas jusqu'à maintenant
été testée de façon empirique. Par conséquent, l'objectif principal de cette recherche est de
catégoriser les entreprises créatrices de mode en fonction de leur degré de créativité perçue et de
leur niveau d'orientation marché. Il nous sera alors possible de statuer à l'existence même d'une
optique marketing de la mode ou autrement dit, de l'existence d'entreprises ayant des
préoccupations élevées sur les deux axes. Dans un deuxième temps, nous identifierons les
facteurs distinctifs de chacun des groupes reposant sur les caractéristiques mêmes des entreprises,
et leurs activités commerciales.
Méthodologie
La préoccupation envers les consommateurs et à la rentabilité a été associée dans notre
étude au concept de l'orientation marché. L'échelle de mesure utilisée a été celle élaborée par
Narver et Slater (1990), échelle qui s'est avérée fiable dans plusieurs études (notamment : Ngai et
Ellis, 1998: 0,854; Greenley, 1995 : 0,80. Dans notre étude, l'alpha de Cronbach a été de 0,8494.
Puisque l’art est une manifestation subjective, il devient impérieux de tenter de mesurer
ce qu’est une orientation artistique ou le degré d’art exprimé par un individu. À notre
connaissance, une telle échelle n’existe pas dans le domaine de la mode vestimentaire. Pour palier
à ce manque tout en considérant l'incongruité de mesurer la subjectivité, une échelle d’auto-
évaluation de l’orientation artistique fut créée pour être administrée par l’artiste lui-même. Ainsi,
l’échelle permet d’estimer comment l’artiste se considère en fonction d’énoncés touchant cette
forme d’expression. Pour créer l'outil de mesure, une recherche s’est tout d’abord portée sur la
création d’énoncés pouvant mesurer ce concept multidimensionnel et varié. Une recherche dans
la littérature nous a permis de cibler des facettes propres au milieu artistique (Becker, 1978;
Hirschman, 1983; Hirschman et Wallendorf, 1982; Holbrook et Zirlin, 1983). Les thèmes
récurrents rencontrés touchent : l'intégrité artistique, la définition de soi, l'indépendance de
l'idéologie (Becker, 1978; Hirschman, 1983
, l'atteinte de buts personnels, la reconnaissance despairs, la vision personnelle, la satisfaction d'un besoin inné par l'auto-expression, l'expression des
valeurs et des émotions (Hirschman, 1983), l'unicité, (Hirschman et Wallendorf, 1982), et l'aspect
non pratique, non fonctionnel de l'oeuvre (Hirshman, 1983; Holbrook and Zirlin, 1983). De ces
thèmes, 12 énoncés furent composés pour mesurer une dimension artistique. Une fois l'outil
purifié, 10 énoncés furent retenus comme étant un indicateur de l'orientation artistique. Le tableau
1 présente ces énoncés ainsi que le score obtenu pour chacun d'eux, sur une échelle de 1(tout à
fait d'accord) à 5 (tout à fait en désaccord).
De manière à s'assurer de la validité divergeante de l’outil, 5 énoncés mesurant une
orientation production et une orientation vente, déjà utilisés par Gray et al. (1998), furent ajoutés
pour fins d’évaluations. Ces 3 orientations, théoriquement indépendantes, devraient générer 3
facteurs distincts. Une analyse factorielle confirmatoire fut menée pour estimer cette supposition.
Quatre facteurs furent extraits avec comme prémisse de base, une valeur propre supérieure à 1.
Un premier facteur englobait exclusivement 9 énoncés mesurant l'orientation artistique et le 3
ième
facteur était composé d'un seul énoncé, le 10
ième
énoncé de notre échelle originale. La fiabilité de
l'outil mesurant l'orientation artistique est jugée très satisfaisante dans ce contexte exploratoire
avec un alpha de Cronbach de 0,7908.
4
Tableau 1
Énoncés composant l'orientation artistique des designers de mode
énoncés pointage
1 Ce qui est important, c'est de créer de beaux vêtements qui me plaisent. 2,94
2 La réussite de l'entreprise passe avant tout par la création. 2,43
3 Ce qui est important, c'est de créer des vêtements uniques. 2,82
4 Je préfère commercialiser des produits à faible marge bénéficiaire et que
j'aime plutôt que de vendre des produits à meilleure marge qui ne me
plaisent pas.
3,26
5 Je n'aime pas suivre les tendances imposées par les autres. 2,85
6 Ma récompense ultime est d'avoir l'estime de mes pairs au sujet de mes
créations.
2,96
7 La rentabilité n'est pas un bon indicateur du succès des designers de mode. 3,33
8 Mes vêtements expriment une partie de mes émotions. 2,95
9 Je considère mes vêtements comme des œuvres d'art. 3,56
10 Il est important que les vêtements que je crée portent ma griffe. 3,16
moyenne 3,02
L'étude s'intéressait aux entreprises conceptrices de vêtements. Cela excluait de notre
échantillon, les entreprises qui ne faisaient que de la fabrication / production de vêtements. Les
entreprises uniquement manufacturières n'étaient donc pas considérées comme une population
valide pour cette étude. En recoupant plusieurs listes, 620 entreprises ayant leur siège social au
Québec ont été contactées. Le choix de cette région géographique s'appuie essentiellement sur
l'importance de cette province dans l'industrie canadienne de l'habillement. Dans tous les cas, le
contact initié par téléphone ou par lettre demandait de s'adresser au designer ou à un designer de
l'entreprise. Cent dix-sept designers ont retourné un long questionnaire qui faisait 10 pages de
format légal, pour un taux de réponse de 19%.
Résultats
La moyenne pour l'orientation artistique est de 3,02, celle pour l'orientation marché est de
1,98. La signification de ceci, en prenant en compte la gradation des deux échelles (1= tout à fait
d'accord, 5=tout à fait en désaccord), nous amène à avancer que généralement, les entreprises de
l'échantillon, via leur designer, se perçoivent davantage suivant une orientation marché qu'une
orientation artistique. Ce biais favorable avoué en faveur d'une orientation marché n'est pas
unique à cette étude. Shapiro (1988) avançait que presque toutes les entreprises se prétendent
orientées vers le marché. De façon à pouvoir catégoriser les entreprises en fonction de la matrice
suggérée par Easey (1995), une analyse typologique (procédure Quick Cluster, SPSS 10.0, avec 4
groupes demandés) a été effectuée en fonction des scores moyens obtenus sur l'orientation
artistique et sur l'orientation marché. Le tableau 2 présente la répartition de notre échantillon sur
ces deux axes.
5
Tableau 2
Répartition des entreprises selon la classification de Easey
Identification des
groupes
n Pointage orientation
artistique
Pointage orientation
marché
Optique marketing 26 3,87 1,20
Optique marketing de
la mode
29 2,42 1,52
Centré sur le design 40 2,81 2,38
échec 14 3,43 3,25
Trois groupes apparaissent clairement avoir une similarité avec la typologie élaborée par
Easey (1995). Il s'agit des groupes "optique marketing" (forte préoccupation sur le marché, faible
préoccupation artistique), "optique marketing de la mode" (forte préoccupation sur le marché,
forte préoccupation artistique) et "échec" (faible préoccupation sur le marché, faible
préoccupation artistique). Le groupe "centré sur le design" quant à lui, devrait théoriquement
afficher un meilleur pointage (ici, un pointage plus petit) sur l'échelle de l'orientation artistique,
que celui obtenu avec l'échelle de l'orientation marché. Les résultats ne montrent pas ce portrait.
Les tableaux 3 et 4 présentent le profil des entreprises de chacun des groupes en fonction
de leur caractéristiques internes (tableau 3) et de leurs principales activités commerciales (tableau
4). Pour des fins d'espace, l'analyse des résultats portera essentiellement sur le groupe combinant
des orientations artistique et marché élevées, c'est-à-dire le groupe "optique marketing de la
mode". Seuls les résultats présentant des différences significatives (à 0,05) seront considérés.
Les entreprises de ce groupe sont celles qui apparaissent les plus petites, tant en chiffres
d'affaires qu'en nombre d'employés. Sur ces bases, elles correspondent davantage à des PME.
Conséquemment à ce profil, il est peu surprenant de noter que le designer de l'entreprise risque
davantage d'en être le propriétaire, en partie ou en totalité. Résultat intéressant s'il en est un, dans
ce groupe, chez pratiquement quatre entreprises sur cinq, le designer est aussi la principale
personne responsable des décisions commerciales. Bien que les designers de ce groupe aient la
plus forte orientation artistique des quatre groupes (( = 2,42), cela ne les empêche pas d'avoir des
préoccupations élevées quant à leur environnement de marché, ce qui laisse présumer que leur
entreprise suit une optique marketing. Chez ce groupe du moins, il n'est pas incompatible de
fonctionner en favorisant simultanément des préoccupations élevées aux niveaux artistique et
marketing.
Une conséquence souvent induite à un niveau d'orientation marché élevé est une
performance supérieure de l'entreprise. Cette mesure de performance a été appréhendée en ayant
recours à quatre évaluations qualitatives (sur une échelle de 1: tout à fait d'accord à 5). Deux
énoncés ont montré des différences significatives. Les entreprises "échec" sur ces critères sont
logiquement, perçues les moins performantes. Parallèlement, le groupe "optique marketing" se
perçoit le plus performant, davantage que le groupe "optique marketing de la mode". Ce résultat
laisse transparaître le fait que pour les entreprises créatrices de mode ayant un haut niveau
d'orientation marché, le niveau de créativité perçue n'ajoute pas à la performance de l'entreprise.
6
Tableau 3
Caractéristiques internes des 4 groupes
Optique
marketing
de la mode
Optique
marketing
Centré
sur le
design
échec Analyse
statistique
Revenus annuels:
• Moins de 250 000$
• 250 000$ - 2 millions
• plus de 2$ millions
42,3%
42,3%
15,4%
9,5%
14,3%
76,2%
23,5%
32,4%
44,1%
18,2%
0%
81,8%
?
2
= 24,17
p=0,000
Taille :
Nombre d'employés
25,50
154,25
60,18
59,64
F=3,989
p=0,010
Âge de l'entreprise (nombre d'années) 19,00 33,20 22,95 20,57 F=2,943
p=0,037
Entreprise perçue comme un succès
commercial ?
• oui
• non
78,3%
21,7%
90,9%
9,1%
80,0%
20,0%
66,7%
33,3%
?
2
= 2,370
p=0,499
Mesures qualitatives de performance
• volume de vente supérieur aux
concurrents
• rentabilité supérieure aux
concurrents
• succès commercial plus grand
qu'espéré
• cette entreprise est un succès
commercial
3,13
3,05
2,88
2,24
3,18
2,95
2,32
1,87
3,00
2,74
2,89
2,36
3,67
3,00
3,42
2,93
F (p)
1,078
(0,363)
0,490
(0,690)
3,776
(0,013)
2,792
(0,045)
Comparaison des ventes avec année
précédente
• inférieures
• supérieures
• similaires
14,3%
42,9%
42,9%
5,0%
75,0%
20,0%
13,9%
63,9%
22,2%
18,2%
63,6%
18,2%
?
2
= 7,071
p=0,314
Utilisation d'un plan d'affaires
• oui
• non
62,1%
37,9%
70,8%
29,2%
50%
50%
25%
75%
?
2
= 7,770
p=0,051
Utilisation d'un plan de marketing
• oui
• non
28%
72%
41,7%
58,3%
27%
73%
8,3%
91,7%
?
2
= 4,472
p=0,215
Le designer est propriétaire ?
• oui
• non
77,8%
22,2%
38,5%
61,5%
50%
50%
42,9%
57,1%
?
2
= 9,580
p=0,022
Le designer prend les décisions
commerciales ?
• oui
• non
78,6%
21,4%
38,5%
61,5%
35,9%
64,1%
35,7%
64,3%
?
2
= 14,571
p=0,002
Nombre d'avantages concurrentiels 3,25 3,58 3,03 2,60 1,12 (0,345)
7
Les activités commerciales du groupe "optique marketing de la mode" se distinguent
rarement de celles des autres groupes. On doit noter toutefois qu'il s'agit du groupe utilisant le
moins fréquemment les logiciels dans la création vestimentaire. Est-ce pour une raison
idéologique ou financière, ces entreprises étant les plus petites ?
Tableau 4
Pratiques commerciales des 4 groupes
* : Pourcentage de cellules ayant des
fréquences théoriques inférieures à 5
est supérieur à 20%.
Optique
marketing
de la mode
Optique
marketing
Centré
sur le
design
Échec
Analyse
statistique
Décisions de produits
Type de production
• prêt à porter
• sur mesure
• les deux
37%
11,1%
51,9%
96%
0%
4%
74,4%
2,6%
23,1%
91,7%
0%
8,3%
?
2
= 26,491
p=0,000*
Gamme de qualité
• bas de gamme
• milieu de gamme
• haut de gamme
13,8%
6,9%
79,3%
20%
24%
56%
12,8%
28,2%
59%
33,3%
25%
41,7%
?
2
= 8,895
p=0,180*
Nombre de collections annuelles 2,27 1,92 2,76 1,69 F=1,414
p=0,243
Impartition de la production
• oui
• non
66,7%
33,3%
88,5%
11,5%
76,9%
23,1%
84,6%
15,4%
?
2
= 4,049
p=0,256
Production effectuée à l'extérieur
• oui
• non
94,4%
5,6%
68,2%
31,8%
83,3%
16,7%
81,8%
18,2%
?
2
= 4,652
p=0,199*
Création à l'aide de logiciels
• oui
• non
31%
69%
65,4%
34,6%
40%
60%
69,2%
30,8%
?
2
= 9,854
p=0,020
Décisions de distribution
Nombre de points de vente 124,48 618,94 124,48 221,4 F=5,191
p=0,003
Type de distribution
• propre force de vente
• agence de vente externe
62,5%
37,5%
77,3%
22,7%
70,6%
29,4%
72,7%
27,3%
?
2
= 1,245
p=0,742
Perception de contrôle sur les
détaillants (de 1 à 5)
2,1483 3,1791 2,8378 3,3566 F=5,510
p=0,002
Perception de contrôle sur les
fournisseurs (de 1 à 5)
2,4256 2,6747 2,5778 2,5744 F=0,554
p=0,647
Exportation à l'extérieur du Québec
• oui
• non
48,1%
51,9%
88%
12%
78,4%
21,6%
76,9%
23,1%
?
2
= 11,825
p=0,008
Contribution des exportations aux
revenus annuels (%)
51,64 61,53 56,3 26,25 F=2,691
p=0,055
Décisions de communication
Dépenses annuelles
• moins de 10 000$
• entre 10 000$ et 50 000$
• plus de 50 000$
74,1%
14,8%
11,1%
38,1%
23,8%
38,1%
40%
28,6%
31,4%
83,3%
8,3%
8,3%
?
2
= 14,114
p=0,028*
8
Nombre d'outils de communication
utilisés annuellement
3,85
3,57
3,89
2,11
F=1,790
p=0,155
Peut-être aussi en raison de leur petitesse relative, on retrouve leurs vêtements dans moins
de points de vente. Ce groupe exporte aussi le moins ses créations à l'extérieur du Québec.
Compte tenu de leur profil distinctif, il est difficile d'expliquer pourquoi, outre le moins grand
nombre de détaillants avec qui elles transigent, pourquoi elles perçoivent avoir le plus grand
contrôle (échelle de ZuHone et Morganosky, 1995) sur les détaillants.
Discussion et conclusion
Cette étude se veut à notre connaissance, l'une des premières à associer les orientations
artistique et de marché dans le domaine de la mode. Par conséquent, les résultats obtenus doivent
être considérés dans un contexte exploratoire. Ceci nous amène à pousser davantage nos
recherches sur ce sujet, notamment en l'étudiant dans d'autres régions géographiques et en
améliorant notre échelle de mesure de l'orientation artistique. Cette recherche a néanmoins permis
d'amener des éléments d'information nouveaux.
Il semble tout à fait réalisable pour des entreprises oeuvrant dans la création vestimentaire
et commercialisant leur offre, d'être à la fois orientées vers les aspects artistiques et en même
temps, suivre une optique marketing. Pour donner suite au titre de cette communication, à savoir
si les deux orientations sont conflictuelles, la réponse est non. Ces entreprises, que Easey (1995) a
identifiées comme suivant une optique marketing de la mode, semblent être de plus petites
organisations. La question qui demeure à être explorée est le lien de causalité qui unit les
caractéristiques de l'entreprise et le choix d'une philosophie. Est-il nécessaire que l'entreprise de
mode soit de petite taille pour suivre une optique marketing de la mode ? Est-ce le choix de cette
optique qui entraîne la petitesse de l'entreprise ?
Cette étude a aussi montré que lorsque l'entreprise a un niveau plus élevé d'orientation
marché, ce qui est le cas des groupes "optique marketing" et "optique marketing de la mode", cela
s'associe à certaines mesures de performance plus élevées. L'industrie de la mode ne semble donc
pas différente des autres industries pour lesquelles les considérations artistiques ne sont pas une
partie intégrante. Le fait d'ajouter une orientation artistique plus élevée ne rend pas les entreprises
plus performantes. En fait, le niveau de performance de ces entreprises est moindre, bien que
statistiquement non significative. Autrement dit, une entreprise faisant de la création
vestimentaire peut très bien réussir, commercialement parlant, en suivant uniquement l'optique
marketing.
En complémentarité à l'idée précédente, l'échantillon se perçoit généralement comme
ayant davantage l'orientation marché que l'orientation artistique. Le mythe des designers peu
préoccupés par les consommateurs est-il encore en vigueur ? Cette vision, souvent accolée aux
designers oeuvrant dans la haute couture ne trouvent justement peut-être pas d'écho dans cette
étude en l'absence de designers se spécialisant dans cette voie.
Finalement, peu importe leurs différences quant aux deux orientations mesurées dans
cette étude, les entreprises des quatre groupes diffèrent peu quant à leurs activités commerciales.
Lorsque ces différences sont significatives, il faudrait en explorer davantage les raisons. Cela est-
il effectivement lié aux orientations différentes qui entraînent des politiques commerciales
adaptées, ou est-ce plutôt des différences organisationnelles (taille, ancienneté, lien de propriété,
…) qui en sont la réelle cause.
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11
ASAC 2002 Satya Dash
Winnipeg, Manitoba Indian Institute of Technology
Ed Bruning
University of Manitoba
SERVICE QUALITY AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP EXPECTATIONS IN
LONG-TERM BUYER-SELLER RELATIONSHIPS: A CROSS-CULTURAL
INTEGRATION
A plethora of books, special journal issues, and conference
proceedings bear testimony to the continuing interest in
relationship marketing. However, there has been limited research
on this topic from a cross-cultural perspective. This research
focuses on a cross-cultural comparison of relationship marketing
strategies. In this article, we review the past literature and suggest
the link between national culture and buyer-seller relationships
across cultures.
National Culture
Although it has received only limited attention in the academic literature, culture
(particularly national culture) is related to service quality and interpersonal relationship
expectations and long-term buyer-seller relationships. But, what is culture? And how is it linked
to perceptions, expectations, and relationships in a marketing context?
The concept of culture is widely interpreted in the academic literature. Kroeber and
Kluckhohn (1952) identify more than 160 ways culture can be defined. Kluckhohn (1962) defines
culture as the part of human makeup “which is learned by people as the result of belonging to a
particular group, and is that part of learned behavior that is shared by others. It is our social
legacy, as contrasted to our organic heredity”(p-25).
To study national culture between two countries we turn to the seminal work of Hofstede
(1980, and 1991). He defined culture as the “collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from those of another”(p 5, 1991).
Hofstede’s typology of culture is one of the more important and popular theories of culture types.
A study of social science citation index listings found 1036 quotations from Hofestede's cultural
consequences in journals during the period 1980 to 1993 (Sondergaard, 1994). In the most
exhaustive cross-cultural study to date, based on questionnaire data from 117,000 IBM employees
in 66 countries across seven occupations, Hofstede (1980) established four dimensions of national
culture: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term
orientation. Although these dimensions initially were developed from employees of just one
firm, they have been found to be “generalizable” outside IBM and to represent well the
differences between cultures. Hofstede argues that countries can be placed differentially on these
dimensions according to their core values and institutions, including their work related values.
According to Hofstede, individualism pertains to characteristics of peoples of a society in
which the ties between individuals are loose; everyone is expected to look after himself and his or
her immediate family. Collectivism, as individualism’s opposite, pertains to societies in which
people from birth are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s
lifetimes continues to protect them in exchange for unquestionable loyalty. Power distance refers
to the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a
country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Masculinity is defined as the
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12
degree to which achievement, competition, assertiveness, and performance are emphasized.
Thus, low masculinity cultures emphasize cooperation and interpersonal relationships.
Uncertainty avoidance is a tolerance to risk. Cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to
shun risk and seek ways to add structure and control to their organization. Finally,
confucian/dynamism (long term orientation) basically refers to the time orientation of a culture;
that is, whether that culture tends to operate in a long-term or short-term context. Cultures high in
confucian/ dynamism tend to emphasize long-term horizons.
Because of differences in the aforementioned characteristics highlighted in Hofstede's
work, it seems reasonable to conclude that buyer-seller relationships and perceptions of service
quality will vary across national cultures. The following section presents the results of past
research that addresses aspects of the linkage between relationship marketing and national
culture.
Cross-Cultural Research in Buyer-Seller Relationships
According to Jackson (1985a, 1985b), applying the relationship selling process to all
types of customers indiscriminately may lead to inappropriate interpersonal interaction if the
customer’s orientation is only short-term in nature. Therefore, if the objective of the salesperson
and his or her firm is to develop mutually beneficial buyer-seller relationships, then recognizing
the buyer’s actions, attitudes, and behaviors that indicated his or her preference for a working
relationship is necessary.
In a similar vein, Miles, Arnold and Nash (1990) suggest there are different selling styles
for different selling approaches for different types of buyer-seller interactions. They believe that
some customers are best sold on a one time, discrete transaction basis. In these situations, the
salesperson needs to adapt his or her selling approach to a task oriented means of communication
(mechanistic, goal oriented and purposeful) versus an interaction-oriented style (emphasizing
social context and interpersonal relationships).
With respect to the national culture aspects of buyer-seller relationships, Jones (2000)
studied the interaction expectations of Asian and North American buyers in the hotel industry. He
identified interaction constructs (i.e., structural bonding, social bonding, communication, trust,
and relationship commitment) as key constructs for his study. He found that communication
content, trust, and social bonding had a statistically significant and positive relationship with the
outcome variable of relationship commitment. Furthermore, it was discovered that trust and
communication content was given more importance in long-term relationships by North
American- based compared to Asian-based companies. He also found that buyers with higher
levels of eastern culture oriented values leads to higher expectations of long-term orientation and
social bonding in the relationship.
From the above discussion it is clear that a pattern of relationship marketing practiced in
one cultural may not be suitable in other cultural contexts. Therefore, different marketing
approaches may be necessary across cultures in order to satisfy varied interaction expectations.
Service Quality
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry’s (1985, 1988, 1991b, 1993) work has identified five
dimensions of service quality. These dimensions are: reliability, responsiveness, assurance,
tangibles, and empathy. Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately. Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
Assurance is the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and
confidence. Empathy is the caring, individualized attention provided to customers; and tangibles
13
are the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials.
Based on these dimensions, researchers measured perceptions of service quality in service and
retailing organizations.
Service quality has been argued to play a central role in understanding customer
satisfaction and retention (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1985). Service quality has been
identified as a potential antecedent of both satisfaction and customer retention. (Cronin and
Taylor, 1992). The contribution of service quality as an antecedent in establishing and
maintaining long-term relationships and customer loyalty is well established. Wetzels, Martin, et.
al., (2000) state that service quality characteristics are a decisive factor in determining customer
trust and commitment. Mackenzie (1992) provides evidence demonstrating that customer trust in
the office equipment market is influenced positively by customer perceptions of service offerings.
Similarly, Venetis (1997) reports empirical evidence for a positive relationship between service
quality and relationship commitment in advertising agency-client relationships.
The customer’s perception of quality is a construct quite similar to satisfaction and has
been discussed extensively, particularly in the context of service relationships (Persuraman,
Zeithaml and Berry 1988; Cronin and Taylor 1992; Tees 1994; and Rust and Oliver 1994). For
the most part, the aforementioned authors stress that service quality leads to customer
satisfaction, trust, commitment, relationship longevity, and to customer relationship profitability.
Service Quality and National Culture
Several studies have contributed towards linking service quality and various cultural
dimensions. Furrier et. al., (2000) tested a conceptual link between all five cultural dimensions
developed by Hofstede (1980, 1991) and variations in the relative performance of the five service
quality dimensions developed by Parsuraman, Zethamal, and Berry (1985, 1988; Parsuraman,
Berry, Zeithamal 1991b). They also developed a cultural service quality index (CSQI) that
evaluated the relative importance of each SERVQUAL dimension as a function of Hoefstede's
five cultural dimensions. The purpose was to determine if the index could segment multicultural
markets. They found that in cultures with high power distance, powerful customers attached
greater importance to responsiveness, reliability, empathy and tangibles. Weak customers, on the
other hand, attached importance to assurance and tangibles. In cultures with small power distance,
all customers indicated a similar pattern of importance to all service quality dimensions as the
difference between powerful and weak customers were small. Highly individualistic customers
indicated reliability and responsiveness were more important. Further, they found that cultures
having long-term orientations would attach more importance to reliability, responsiveness, and
empathy.
Power distance. Matila (1999) studied the relationship between powerful customers and
weak service providers in a luxury hotel. She found that Asian-Indian travelers demonstrated
higher importance on personalized service than their westerner counterparts. She argued this
difference was due to the power distance dimension of culture. Western travelers, being
individualistic in nature, gave higher importance to physical environment features compared to
their Asian counterparts.
Donthu and Yoo (1998) argued that service providers have more power over their
consumers in some service activities (e.g. insurance, banking, consulting). In these situations, the
power of the service provider comes from her expertise, professional knowledge, or skills. They
develop hypotheses and test whether customers in high power distance cultures have lower
service quality expectations than low power distance oriented cultures. The results of the
empirical data supported their initial hypotheses: buyers in high power distance cultures are more
tolerant of service shortcomings compared to buyers in low power distance cultures.
Frazier, Gill, and Kale (1989) stated that, compared to western markets, many Indian
marketing channels possess an asymmetrical balance of power whereby sellers (suppliers) are
14
more powerful than buyers (dealers). India falls into the category of a high power distance
culture. Cultures with large power distance measures are characterized by important differences
between more powerful and less powerful people. These differences are visible in terms of social
class, education level, and occupation. Donthu and Yoo (1998) argue that customers of high
power distance cultures would tend to respect and defer to service providers. As a result of their
tolerance in accepting inequalities in power, they are likely to have lower service quality
expectations compared to customers of low power distance cultures. Consequently, buyer from
high power distance culture would tolerate poor service delivery due to service provider’s
expertise or power.
Individualism/Collectivism. In general, individualism refers to the value of the
individual’s rights, characteristics, and identity over those of the group. Cultures high in
individualism emphasize what is best for the person. Cultures low in this dimension approach
decisions from a “we” standpoint (Hofstede 1991). Thus, in an individualistic society the
customer’s primary goal is to achieve his own interests, not others’ (i.e. service providers)
interests. It follows, therefore, that individualistic customers will be less tolerate of poor service
quality providers. Further, they will tend to be less interested in long lasting relationships. Since
they are skilled at entering and leaving reference groups, upon experiencing poor service quality
from a service provider they will have a strong tendency to abandon the service provider. On the
other hand, collectivist customers will put stress on "we" (i.e. view both the service provider and
customer as one group) as they stress mutual interdependence in their relationship with the
service provider. They will be more tolerate of poor service quality because the service provider
is considered a member in their in-group. Since collectivists are interested in establishing and
maintaining long lasting relationships they will not easily leave the service provider.
The socialization patterns that are found in collectivist cultures emphasize obedience,
duty, sacrifice for the group, cooperation, preference towards members of the in-group,
acceptance of in-group authorities, nurturing, and interdependence. Conversely, patterns that are
found in individualistic cultures emphasize independence, self-reliance, creativity, and acceptance
of disobedience. In individualistic cultures, people are adept at entering and leaving groups, but
do not develop deep and lasting relationships with the same frequencies as collectivists. By
contrast, in collectivist cultures people tend towards shyness, tend to be less willing and able to
enter new groups, but also tend to establish more intimate and long-lasting relationships than do
individualists. (Triandis et. al., 1993).
Long-term orientation. Long-term orientation is the extent to which a society exhibits a
pragmatic future-oriented perspective (fostering virtues like perseverance and thrift) rather than a
short-term point of view. They would sacrifice today for a better future. Long-term orientation
places little importance on today-oriented values (Hofstede, 1991). It follows, therefore, that
long-term oriented customers are more likely to tolerate poor service. They will give time to
service providers to allow them to rectify their mistakes. On the other hand, short- term oriented
customers would expect that their every service experience with service providers should be
perfect in all respects. When experiencing poor service they would opt to leave without giving the
service provider time to improve.
From the above discussion we can conclude that buyers from individualistic, low power
distance, and short-term oriented societies will have higher over all service quality expectations
than similar type of buyers in collectivist, high power distance, and long-term oriented societies.
Further, the assurance dimension of service quality will be given higher importance by high
power distance buyers than low power distance buyers. We propose the following propositions:
P1 Service quality will be an antecedent of satisfaction, trust, commitment and
long-term relationships for all buyers regardless of Individualism, Power distance,
long-term orientation contexts.
15
P2 Buyers from individualistic, low power distance, and short-term oriented
societies will have comparatively higher service quality expectation than similar
type of buyers of collectivist, high power distance, and long-term oriented
societies.
P3 The assurance dimension of service quality will be given higher importance by
weak buyers in high power distance societies than with similar types of buyers in
low power distance societies.
Factors Affecting Long-Term Relationships
Dwyer et. al., (1987) have developed a model which considers both the interaction
between the buyer and seller as well as the process of change in that interaction . They suggest
that relationships between buyers and sellers evolve through five distinct phases. Each stage
represents a major transition in how parties regard each other. Awareness is the first phase that
refers to recognition of the feasibility of the exchange partner. The second stage is exploration,
which refers to the search and trial phase in the relational exchange. In this phase, potential
exchange partners first consider obligations, burdens, and the possibility of mutual benefits from
exchange. The exploration phase has five sub-processes: 1) attraction, 2) communication and
bargaining, 3) development of exercise of power, 4) norm development, and 5) expectation of
trust development. Phase three is the expansion phase, which refers to the continual deepening of
the relationship from benefits obtained by exchange partners and subsequently increases their
interdependence. The five sub-processes introduced in exploration phase (phase 2) also operate in
the expansion phase (phase three). The rudiments of trust and joint satisfaction established in the
exploration phase lead to increased interdependence in the third phase. Commitment is the fourth
phase that refers to an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange
partners. Dissolution is the final phase, which refers to the possibility of withdrawal or
disengagement from the relationship.
Wilson (1995) developed an integrated model that blends the variables for a successful
relationship with the five-stage process model of relationship developed by Dwyer et. al., (1987).
He identified a set of 13 success variables that have both theoretical and empirical support in the
relationship marketing research. The success variables are: commitment, trust, cooperation,
mutual goals, interdependence and power imbalance, performance satisfaction, structural bonds,
comparison level of alternatives, non-retrievable investments, shared technology, social bonds,
summative constructs and adaptation. Mishra (2000) conducted a meta-analysis and converged
into a correlation table the findings from earlier relationship research published in referred
journals. He identified satisfaction, trust, and interdependence as antecedent constructs to the
likelihood of a relationship to continue. He also reported that commitment, power,
communication, conflict resolution, and co-operation indirectly effected the likelihood of the
relationship continuing.
From the above literature review we surmise the following key success variables that
directly and indirectly affect long-term relationships between buyers and sellers: communication,
structural bonding, social bonding, adaptation, cooperation, satisfaction, trust and relationship
commitment. The remainding portions of this paper discusses each of these factors relative to
three of Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture: individualism, power distance, and long-term
orientation.
Communication
A customer’s initial contact with a seller must include some form of either written or oral
communication. The style, tone and content of this initial communication will likely shape the
16
first impressions of either or both parties and may affect the nature of relationship that develops
(Wren and Simpson, 1996, pp-72). Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh (1987) argue that communication is
an important input to customer commitment. Anderson, Lodish and Weitz (1987) contend that
communication is positively associated with customer trust, which has been empirically verified
by Anderson and Narus (1990).
Sheth (1976) developed a conceptual framework of communication in buyer-seller
relationships. He characterized communication along two dimensions: content and style.
Content of communication represented the substantive aspects of the purpose for which the two
parties have gotten together. Communication content is further defined in five utility dimensions:
functional, social organizational, situational, emotional, and curiosity. The second
communication dimension is style and is sub-divided into three dimensions: task oriented,
interaction oriented and self-oriented. Sheth suggested that the determinant factors of
communication content and style are: 1) personal factors 2) organizational factors, and 3)
product-specific factors. Personal factors will drive communication style, organizational factors
drive both communication content and style, and product specific factors drive the
communication content in buyer-seller relationships (Sheth, 1976).
Communication and national culture. Regarding style of communication, Kale and
Barnes (1992) proposed that buyers from collectivist cultures preferred sales behavior would be
more cooperative, integrative, and interaction oriented, in comparison to buyer’s from
individualistic cultures. Miles, Arnold and Nash (1990) suggested that task oriented buyers will
expect a task oriented sales adaptation at all stages of the relationship, while the self and
interaction oriented buyer will expect an interaction style of communication in the early stages of
the relationship (i.e. awareness and exploration development) and a combination of interaction
style and task style communication in the latter stages (i.e. expansion and commitment). From
the above-cited literature we propose the following propositions:
P4 Communication will be an antecedent of trust and commitment in all societies
regardless of differences in individualism/collectivism, power distance, or long-
term orientation,
P5 Interaction oriented communication styles will be given higher importance by
collectivist societies.
P6 Task oriented communication styles will be given higher importance by
individualistic societies.
Adaptation
Adaptation is the process by which both buyer and supplier might modify their resources
to suit the other. It is required to maintain collaborative relationship building. According to Ford
(1980), “adaptations mark a commitment by the buyer or seller to the relationship.” Adaptive
selling is defined as, “altering of sales behaviors during a customer interactions based on
perceived interactions and perceived information about the nature of selling situation” (Weitz,
Sujan and Sujan, 1986, p-175). Adaptation mechanisms affect the level of trust and commitment.
Adaptation and national culture. According to Frazier, Gill and Kale (1989),
compared to western markets, Indian marketing channels still have an asymmetrical balance of
power where sellers (suppliers) are more powerful than buyers (dealers). In a high power distance
culture, the less powerful buyers would not demand adaptive selling from sellers. As a result of
their characteristics of accepting inequalities, they will tolerate non-adaptive styles from sellers.
Collectivist buyers will emphasize "we" (i.e. both buyer and seller as a group) rather than "I" as
they emphasize mutual dependence and trust in interpersonal relationships. They will tolerate
17
poor adaptive selling styles of sellers because they anticipate that problems will be rectified in the
future.
Gulbro and Herbig (1996) stated that high context (collectivist) negotiators are less
programmatic and less rigid, particularly in time management, contract signing, and closing deals.
On the other hand, individualist buyers view themselves as dealing with the organization not
person. In low power distance cultures, the power difference between the buyer and seller is
small. The low power distance buyer will not tolerate poor adaptive selling style from sellers. An
individualistic society member will primarily see her own interest, not other’s (i.e. the service
providers) interest as dominant in the relationship. Whenever notice is made of poor adaptive
style on the part of the seller, the individualist will immediately quit the seller without giving time
for the seller to improve. This tendency is further reinforced by the propensity of the
individualist entering and leaving groups at ease. Thus, proposition six states:
P7 Buyers from collectivist, high power distance, long-term oriented societies will
have comparatively higher tolerance to poor adaptive selling approaches on the
part of sellers than buyers from individualistic, low power distance, and short-
term oriented societies.
Bonding
Bonding is defined as the dimension of a business relationship that results in two parties
(customer and supplier) acting in a unified manner towards a desired goal. Various bonds exist
between parties that indicate different levels of a relationship (Collaghan, Jannelle, and Yau,
1994). Bonding has been successful in explaining within country buyer-seller relationships (IMP
Group, 1982; Wilson and Moller, 1988). In the literature, bonds are classified under two broad
categories: structural and social bonding.
Structural bonding is the task orientation between buyer and seller. It is the “degree to
which certain ties link and hold a buyer and seller together in a relationship as a result of some
mutually beneficial economic, strategic, technological, or organizational objective”(Williams
Han, and Qualls, 1998). Social bonding is the bonding that takes place between individuals (i.e.,
the buyer and seller). During social bonding, individuals are bonded together via the
organizational members’ personal and social relationship with their counterparts in a particular
firm. Personal factors such as trust or satisfaction with the relationship partner play an important
role in developing social bonding (Williams et. al.,1998). Wilson (1995) defined social bonding
as the degree of mutual personal friendship and liking shared by the buyer and seller.
Bonds reflect and cause commitment in business relationships (Hakansson and Snehota,
1995). While studying members of the Purchasing Management Association of Canada, Smith
(1998) states that social, functional, and structural bonds provide the context from which
relational outcomes, such as trust, satisfaction and commitment, are evaluated. He introduces a
third form of bonding termed he calls functional bonding that is a further division of structural
bonding. He found that communication, cooperation, and relationship investment were important
predictors of social bonding, while relationship investment and relationalism predicted structural
bonding. Williams et. al., (1998) found that both social and structural bonding were positively
related to commitment. However, structural bonding had a greater effect on commitment than
social bonding.
Social bonding, structural bonding and national culture. Williams et. al., (1998)
related the individualism/collectivism construct to the buyer-seller relationship constructs of
social and structural bonding. They characterized individualistic national cultures as those with
less interpersonal orientation (i.e. social bonding), while collectivist national cultures would have
high needs of interpersonal orientation (i.e., high social bonding). Based on an empirical study of
international buyer-seller relationships from the United States, Germany, Costa Rica, and Jamaica
the authors confirmed their hypothesis that buyers from collectivist countries had the strongest
18
desire for social bonding. Conversely, buyers from highly individualistic countries had the
strongest desire for structural bonding. This finding is corroborated by Malhotra et. al., (1994)
who argue that business respondents developing countries give more importance to social
interaction and personal connectivity than do their counterparts from developed countries.
From the above discussion we conclude that buyers from collectivist countries will give
more emphasis to interpersonal orientation and will attach great importance to social bonding.
Buyers from individualistic countries, on the other hand, will place more emphasis on the tasks to
be performed and will attach greater importance to structural bonding. The following
propositions address this point:
P8 Social bonding as an antecedent to relationship commitment will be given
relatively higher importance by collectivist societies than individualistic
societies.
P9 Structural bonding as an antecedent to relationship commitment will be given
higher importance by individualistic societies than collectivities societies.
Cooperation
Cooperation refers to the extent to which parties in a working relationship help one
another and coordinate their actions (Anderson and Narus, 1990). Dwyer (1980) tested and found
that cooperation and satisfaction are correlated. Anderson and Narus (1990) found a strong,
indirect, positive relationship between cooperation and satisfaction; cooperation is linked to
satisfaction through trust.
Cooperation and national culture. According to (Triandis et. al., 1993), the
socialization patterns that are found in collectivist cultures emphasize obedience, duty, sacrifice
for group, cooperation, favoritism towards the in-group, acceptance of in-group authorities,
nurturing, and interdependence. The patterns that are found in individualist cultures emphasize
independence, self-reliance, creativity, and acceptance of disobedience. In individualistic
cultures people are very good at entering and leaving groups, but do not develop deep and lasting
relationships with the same frequencies as collectivists. By contrast, in collectivist cultures people
are very shy, or less able to enter new groups, but tend to establish more intimate and long-lasting
relationships that do individualists. Therefore, the collectivist buyers will attach more importance
on cooperation between buyer and seller than individualistic buyers. As such, the proposition
follows:
P10 Cooperation as an antecedent of trust and satisfaction will be given higher
importance by buyers from collectivistic societies and will be given less
importance in individualistic societies.
Satisfaction
Gronroos (1991) stresses the importance of continuously assessing customer satisfaction
in a relationship-marketing situation. Higher levels of satisfaction have been found to lead to
higher levels of commitment. Satisfaction with a service provider acts as a mediating variable
between two related variables, trust and social bonding, and the outcome variable of commitment
(Gladstein, 1984; Kelly and Davis, 1994; Hocutt, 1998). Their findings indicate that satisfaction
has a direct effect upon trust and an indirect effect upon commitment through trust.
Satisfaction and national culture. In high power distance cultures, an asymmetric
balance of power exists between the relatively powerful and relatively weak partners. The more
powerful partners often exercise power by using coercive strategies to achieve their objectives. In
19
these cultures, the relatively powerful partners do not consult with their weaker counterpart. On
the other hand, in low power distance cultures, consultative and participative decision-making is
more common between powerful and weaker parties. The distribution of power tends to be more
symmetric and a greater recognition of mutual inter-dependence between powerful and weak
partners tends to occur. Consequently, the frequency of using coercion in these cultures is less
common. Frazier and Summers (1984; 1986) demonstrated that the dealers expressing less
satisfaction with the inter-firm relationship are more likely to dissolve their relationship when
their manufacturer uses coercion to achieve their objectives. Additionally, their empirical tests
confirmed that firms from low power distance cultures do not consciously use coercion in their
influence attempts. Kale and Mclntyre (1991) opine that firms experiencing less power in high
power distance societies would experience relatively lower levels of satisfaction in the channel
relationship compared with similar firms in low power distance societies. With respect to
satisfaction, proposition eleven and twelve posits that:
P11 Satisfaction will be the antecedent of trust for all buyers regardless of
individualism, power distance, or long-term orientation contexts.
P12 Buyers having low power in high power distance societies will perceive
relatively less satisfaction in comparison with buyers with similar power in low
power distance societies.
Trust
Trust is a fundamental relationship building block and is included in many relationship-
marketing models (Wilson, 1995). The centrality of trust in developing long-term relationships
has been emphasized repeatedly in the marketing channels literature (e.g., Anderson and Weitz,
1989; Dwyer et. al., 1987; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Even though a number of factors have been
proposed, three characteristics of trust appear often in the literature: ability, benevolence, and
integrity. As a set, the three characteristics appear to explain a major portion of trustworthiness
(Mayer et. al., 1995). Ganeson (1994) found that the long-term orientation towards partners is a
function of the amount of trust embedded in the relationship. Trust has been reported to be an
important precondition for increased commitment (Miettila and Moler, 1990).
Trust and national culture. Doney et. al., (1998) developed a model that conceptualized how
national culture affects the development of trust in the buyer-seller relationship. Specifically, the
five cognitive trust building processes in business relationships (i.e., calculative, prediction,
capability, intentionality, and transference) conceptualized by Doney and Cannon (1997) are
proposed as differentiating factors in cross-cultural relationships. Their research suggests that
those cultures exhibiting a high degree of individualism and low power distance will determine
trust by analytical means (calculative and capability processes). In contrast, trust is built more on
intentionality and transference in collectivist and high power distance cultures.
Individualist societies are characterized by a self-orientated and “loose” interpersonal
relationship culture. On the other hand, collectivist societies are characterized by a group-
oriented and “tight” interpersonal relationship culture. A buyer’s trust in a sales person is likely to
be a driver of commitment and long-term orientation only in cultures which emphasize greater
importance on interaction and group-oriented relationships. When performance evaluation is
based on individual achievement and rewards are measured on the level of performance only,
then short-term gains (such as good pricing and delivery time) are given greater importance. Less
relationship-oriented cultures are more likely to choose a supplier primarily based on objective
performance criteria. Conversely, buyers in more relationship- oriented cultures are more likely
to prefer dealing with firms and sales people whom they can trust.
As mentioned earlier, Malhotra et. al., (1994) indicated that developing countries give
more importance to social interaction and personal connectivity than developed countries. In a
20
similar vein, Adler et. al., (1987) found that relationships were more important to Mexican
negotiators (collectivists) than to negotiators from the United States(individualists). Although
Mexican negotiators made less profit, nonetheless, they achieved higher levels of satisfaction and
interpersonal relationships.
The research evidence indicates that individualistic-based cultures are task oriented
whereas collectivist-based societies tend to be interaction oriented. As the individualist culture
gives low priority to interpersonal relationships, trust in the sales person will not carry so much
importance with them for commitment and long-term orientation. In contrast, collectivist cultures
are characterized by their interaction and group orientation. Collectivists value interpersonal and
social relationships. Trust is therefore a key driver for long-term orientation of buyers. This
implication leads to the prediction that trust will not be considered as important to the
individualistic, low power distance, short-term oriented buyer.
Interestingly, (Kale and Barnes 1992) have argued that high power-distance societies
typically view outsiders as threats and, as a result, show less inclination towards an initial trusting
relationship. People in such societies will discuss business only after developing trust in the
person. Conversely, people in low power distance societies feel less threatened by outsiders and
tend to trust them more. Thus, high power distance cultures consider trust as a more important
factor for commitment and long term relationships compared to low power distance cultures. Our
thirteenth proposition follows:
P13 Trust in the seller as an antecedent to relationship commitment and long term
relationship will be of higher importance for collectivistic, high power distance
buyers than for individualistic, low power distance cultures.
Commitment
Commitment indicates the motivation one possesses to maintain a relationship.
Commitment is an important variable in discriminating between “stayers and leavers”
(Mummalaneni, 1987). The determinants of a long-term, mutually profitable buyer-seller
relationship have been established as including trust at the initial stages of the relationship
development leading to commitment in the more advanced stage (Dwyer et. al., 1987; Ganeson,
1994; Wilson, 1995). Commitment is the most significant and critical variable for future long-
term stability of buyer seller relationships. Commitment, according to Dwyer et. al., (1987, p-19)
refers to “an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners.”
Furthermore, the authors consider commitment to be the most advanced phase of the buyer-seller
relationship. Wilson and Mummalanei (1988) argue that the greater the commitment of the
organization to a specific relationship, the greater the stability of relationship. In turn, this
increased stability will lead to a longer duration of the relationship.
Kumar, Hibbard and Stern (1994) distinguish two different types of commitment:
affective and calculative. Affective commitment connotes a general positive feeling towards the
exchange partner. Calculative commitment, on the other hand, refers to firm’s motivation to
continue relationship on the basis of the net extrinsic benefits received. Trust leads to affective
commitment or, in other wards, a strong desire to maintain a relationship (Wetzels et.al., 2000) .
On the other hand, basing relationships on the perceived cost benefit ratios of the service provider
relative to other competitors leads to calculative commitment. Calculative commitment is based
on an economic rationale whereas affective commitment devolves from a psychological
predisposition based on economic and non-economic aspects (Geyskens et. al., 1996).
Commitment and national culture. The general culture in a collectivistic society is
described as interactive and group-oriented. Members of these cultures give more importance to
friendship and personal feelings in deciding whether or not to continue business relationships.
21
Buyers from collectivist cultures give more importance to personal relationships over
relationships based on economic benefits. According to Hui and Trandis (1986), individualists
decide and act on the basis of whether an action leads to personal gain. Thus, individualists are
generally described as task-oriented cultures where people count economic benefits more
important over personal relationship for continuing inter-personal relationships. Thus,
propositions for commitment are stated as follows:
P14 Relationship commitment will be positively related to long-term orientation.
P15 Calculative commitment as an antecedent of long-term relationships will be
higher in individualistic societies than in collectivist societies.
P16 Affective commitment as an antecedent of long-term relationships will be higher
in collectivist societies than in individualistic societies.
Conclusion
Several propositions clearly emerge from the above discussion. A number of Hofstede’s
national culture dimensions are important in understanding service quality and long-term buyer-
seller interpersonal relationships. Individualism/collectivism, power distance, and long-term
orientation are linked to perceptions and relational formation patterns across cultures. To ignore
the impacts of cultural differences is to run a risk that marketing practices in one country may
prove to be insufficient in another. This paper attempts to provide insights for marketing theorists
and practitioners about the relative importance of relationship marketing practices across different
cultures. The next step in our work is to develop testable hypotheses and structure a
measurement model in order to verify the propositions outlined in the paper.
References provided from authors upon request
22
ASAC 2002 Bruce Huhmann
Winnipeg, Manitoba Najam Saqib (student)
I. H. Asper School of Business
University of Manitoba
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF BILL C-55: LIFTING THE BAN ON
SLPIT-RUN VERSIONS OF FOREIGN MAGAZINES
One of a magazine’s main sources of revenue is the audience it sells to advertisers. After
34 years of protecting the domestic market for magazine advertising, the Canadian
government passed Bill C-55, which opened this market to foreign competition in 1999.
This paper investigates the impact of Bill C-55 on the Canadian magazine industry.
Introduction
Globalization is changing the world in which we live. While governments often welcome
the economic benefits of globalization, fear of losing a nation’s cultural identity often leads
governments to adopt policies of cultural protectionism, which are aimed at maintaining one’s
cultural industries (e.g., motion pictures, music, television programming, literature, and
periodicals). However, critics of cultural protectionism often charge that this is merely a rouse to
protect domestic industries from foreign competition.
The current paper examines the impact of cultural protectionism on the Canadian
magazine industry. In 1999, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-55, which opened the
Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition for the first time in over three
decades. We examine industry data and conduct a content analysis of top-selling Canadian
magazines and U.S. magazines sold in Canada to investigate the impact of Bill C-55.
Cultural Protectionism: The Case of Canadian Magazine Advertising
Cultural products are a growing proportion of international trade (Scott, 2000). While
supporters of cultural protectionism point to the necessity of protecting cultural industries from
larger foreign (often U.S.) competition to maintain the integrity of the domestic culture (e.g.,
Nordenstreng and Varis, 1974; Sreberny-Mohammadi, 1990; Tunstall, 1977), critics charge this is
merely a convenient excuse for offering domestic firms easy access to profitable markets (Chadha
and Kavoori, 2000; Hoskins and McFadyen, 1991; Scott, 2000). Changes in the Canadian
magazine industry will examined to investigate the relative merits of the arguments for and
against cultural protectionism.
Canada never closed its borders to the distribution of U.S. magazines. Therefore, the
paid magazine circulation was always open to foreign competition, which led to U.S. magazines
garnering about 80 percent of all newsstand sales in Canada even before Bill C-55 ended the
split-run ban. However, the domestic magazine advertising market was largely protected from
foreign competition. The cultural protection policies of the Canadian government kept domestic
magazines from having to compete with foreign rivals for a share of this lucrative market with
revenues of $672 million in 1999 (TV Basics, 2000). However, the anti-competitive nature of this
market seems to have been responsible for mediocre products, because Canadian advertisers did
not seem very interested in buying the audiences that Canadian magazines were offering.
Magazine ad spending, at 6.9% of the total media spending in Canada, was less than half of the
18% of media spending devoted to magazines in the U.S. in 1999 (Magazine Publishers of
America, 2001; TV Basics, 2000).
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23
Until a World Trade Organization ruling in 1997, Canada provided favorable postal rates
soley for Canadian magazines and tax breaks for firms advertising in Canadian magazines, but
levied an 80% excise tax on ad revenue from split-run editions of foreign magazines. This
effectively barred new split-run editions (existing split-run editions of Time and Reader’s Digest
were grandfathered). Split-run editions are versions of a magazine with advertising and
sometimes editorial material tailored to a particular geographic audience. For example, U.S-
based Hearst Magazines International publishes 36 split-run editions of Cosmopolitan and 10
split-run editions of Esquire for various international audiences (Granatstein and Masterton,
1999). After the WTO ruling, the Canadian Parliament drew up the Foreign Publishers
Advertising Act, which eliminated the preferential treatment in postal rates enjoyed by Canadian
magazines, but made it a criminal offense for Canadian firms to advertise in foreign magazines
with fines of up to $250,000. Thus, Canada was able to maintain the protection of its domestic
magazine advertising market for the benefit of Canadian publishers.
After the U.S. threatened to implement US$3 billion in retaliatory measures, a trade war
was averted through the compromise legislation Bill C-55. Bill C-55 allows Canadian advertisers
to buy ads in split-run editions of foreign magazines and receive a tax deduction for the
advertising expense of 50% (100% if the split-run edition features at least 80% unique or
Canadian content). The only major restriction on foreign publishers is that they are still barred
from full ownership of Canadian publishers or magazines (Granatstein, 1999).
While U.S. publishers and Canadian advertisers were pleased with the compromise,
Canadian publishers were not very happy at the time. U.S. publishers said that their Canadian
counterparts should not feel threatened by the deal because they believe spending for magazine
ads will increase as more magazine options available to advertisers (Granatstein and Masterton,
1999). Canadian publishers, however, feared that magazine ad spending would shift from
Canadian magazines to split-run editions of U.S. magazines. U.S. publishers also claimed that if
Canadian magazines were forced to compete for ad dollars with split-run editions of foreign
magazines, their editorial product would become much stronger (Stein, 1999).
Study 1
Study 1 uses industry data to examine the health of the Canadian magazine industry. If
Bill C-55 has indeed shifted magazine ad spending away from Canadian magazines to split-run
editions of foreign magazines, we would expect to see Canadian publishers lower the rates they
charge for advertisements placed in their publications in an attempt to remain competitive. Also,
the end to lower postage rates for Canadian periodicals may have hurt circulation as Canadian
magazines passed higher mailing costs onto subscribers. Thus, if the adherents to the need for
cultural protectionism are correct, we would expect the passage of Bill C-55 in 1999 to:
H1: Decrease rates for ad placement in Canadian magazines and
H2: Decrease circulation of Canadian magazines.
Method
Study 1 looks at trends in advertising rate data for English-language Canadian magazines
and circulation data for English-language Canadian magazines and U.S. magazines sold in
Canada over the period 1996 to 2000. French-language Canadian magazines were not
investigated because the threat of U.S. split-run magazines, which are almost entirely in English,
is substantially less for the French-language Canadian magazines. The source for the data used in
this study came from the monthly Canadian Advertising Rates & Data, published by Maclean
Hunter, Toronto, and the yearly Media Digest, published by the Canadian Media Directors’
Council, which relies on Print Measurement Bureau data. To eliminate any influence of missing
24
data for advertising rates or circulation, only magazines for which data was available all five
years were used in calculating the aggregate sums and averages.
Results
One indicator of the health of an advertising medium is the amount charged for ad
placement. We picked two common ad rate benchmarks, the rates for one-page black-and-white
ads and one-page four-color bleed ads. The term bleed means that an ad is printed without
margins, which is typically more expensive than an ad with margins. As shown in Figure 1, after
an initial minor decrease in both ad rates immediately following Bill C-55 in 1999, ad rates rose
slightly higher in 2000 than they had been in the period preceding Bill C-55. Therefore,
Hypothesis 1 is not supported.
Circulation is another primary indicator of the health of a periodical. Media Digest
reports the circulation for Canadian consumer magazines with an audited circulation of at least
30,000 and U.S. consumer magazines with a paid Canadian circulation of at least 25,000. While
this omits many smaller publications, it provides circulation for all of the leading Canadian
magazines and U.S. magazines sold in Canada. The circulation data for the individual magazines
were totaled to create Figure 2. After an initial drop from 1996 to 1997, circulation for Canadian
magazines has been relatively unchanged for the period 1997 to 2000. Circulation for U.S.
magazines sold in Canada has been slowly declining since 1996. Hypothesis 2 also does not
seem to be supported as no significant drop in the circulation of Canadian magazines after the
passage of Bill C-55 was observed.
Discussion
Looking at the advertising rate and circulation data for the English-language Canadian
magazine industry seems to indicate little impact of opening the Canadian magazine advertising
industry to foreign competition. Advertising rates, which dropped slightly in 1999, perhaps in
anticipation of a negative impact on advertising in Canadian magazines, have since recovered.
The circulation of Canadian magazines took a nosedive from 1996 to 1997 for which the growth
of the Internet as an information and entertainment medium may be to blame, but not the end of
government protection of the magazine ad market. In the years immediately before and after
opening the Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition, circulation of
English-language Canadian magazines was relatively stable. U.S. magazines available in Canada
do not appear to have received any boon, at least in terms of increased circulation, from
elimination of anti-competitive postage and advertising legislation, which protected their
Canadian competition from these U.S. magazines.
Study 2:
While advertising rates and circulation are good indicators of the health of periodicals, it
does not always take declining ad rates or circulation for a periodical to cease operations. For
example, when the general-interest magazines Look and Life died in 1971 and 1972, they still had
a combined audience of 70 million readers per issue. It only became apparent that these two
publications were in trouble when one looks at the number of ad pages. Ad pages for Life and
Look had dropped 33% from 4,834 in 1966 to 3,196 in 1970 (Perlstein, 2001). A magazine can
only turn the ad rate into ad revenue when their consumers, the advertisers, place an ad.
Why did the number of ad pages, and hence the ad revenue, for Life and Look, as well as
other general interest magazines (e.g., Saturday Evening Post) decrease in the late 1960s and
early 1970s? Because the primary product created and sold by a magazine, or any other
advertiser-supported medium, is its audience (Napoli, 2001). While large circulation indicates a
large audience, advertisers are interested in reaching as many members of their target market as
25
possible in the most cost-effective way. A large circulation magazine is not always as valuable to
an advertiser as a magazine more precisely targeted to the advertiser’s desired target market.
Thus, in the U.S., starting in the early 1970s, many general interest magazines have floundered,
whereas magazines targeted to specific demographic or psychographic groups have proliferated.
For the advertiser, not only is a specialty magazine a better buy in terms of being more precisely
targeted to the desired target market, it may also reach that target market at a lower cost. For
example, suppose that a manufacturer of kayak equipment wanted to place an ad to reach a target
market of kayak enthusiasts. A one-page, four-color, bleed ad could be placed in the
newsmagazine Macleans and reach a general audience of 502,786 Canadians for $31,330 in 2000,
but only a small part of this large general audience would be interested in kayaking.
Alternatively, the same ad could be placed in Canadian Geographic and reach 223,501
Canadians interested in the outdoors for $11,175. Since kayak enthusiasts are primarily located
on the Pacific coast, the ad could be placed in B.C. Outdoor, which is even more focused on a
specific target market of 27,381 Canadians, for only $4,084.
Canadian magazines tend to be less specialized than their U.S. competition, because the
size of the Canadian market made developing editorial content for more specialized Canadian
magazines unprofitable. However, U.S. split-run magazines, which use the editorial content
already developed for the U.S. editions, but sell ads to Canadian advertisers desiring more
specific target market at a lower cost, are widely feared to be the nemesis of the Canadian
magazine industry (Granatstein and Masterton, 1999). Due to the advertisers’ desire for buying
ads in media vehicles focused on specific demographic and psychographic groups, U.S. split-run
magazines should have the greatest negative impact on general audience Canadian magazines.
Decreasing advertiser interest in buying the audience product of these Canadian magazines since
the opening of the Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition should be seen
in:
H3: declining numbers of ad pages per issue,
H4: shrinking ad sizes, and
H5: decreasing use of formats that increase the cost of an ad (i.e., color, bleed, mail-in
cards attached to the ad, and smaller than magazine-sized inserts).
Finally, if Canadian magazines are suffering decreasing profitability, the resulting cutbacks in
printing costs and staff should be seen in:
H6: a declining number of editorial pages.
Method
To test the impact of the end of cultural protectionism on the Canadian magazine
industry, and especially Canadian general interest magazines, four of the most read, nationally-
distributed Canadian consumer magazines according to the 1998-1999 Media Digest were
selected. The magazines were Homemaker’s Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Chatelaine, and
Canadian Living. For comparison against some specific U.S. competitors, four high circulation
U.S. consumer magazines sold in Canada (National Geographic, People, Young and Modern, and
Good Housekeeping) were also selected. The ads in these eight magazines were content analyzed
to investigate the impact of Bill C-55 on a sample of specific magazines. These magazines, as the
leading magazines sold in Canada, should serve as a bellweather for any changes precipitated by
Bill C-55.
Two judges were hired and trained to code the December issues of these 8 magazines
from 1998 (immediately preceding the passage of Bill C-55), 1999 (immediately after the passage
26
of Bill C-55), and 2000 (one year after Bill C-55). If the magazine was a weekly or biweekly, the
first December issue was coded. To measure the impact of Bill C-55, the following categories
were coded: the number of editorial and ad pages in each magazine issue; the size of each ad (a
ten-level variable ranging from 0 “1/4 to less than 1/2 a page” to 9 “4 or more pages”); whether or
not the ad was on a front or back cover; and the use of color, bleed, attached mail-in cards, and
smaller than magazine-sized inserts for each ad.
Results
In total 1,763 ads were coded, 983 from Canadian magazines and 780 from U.S.
magazines. To test Hypothesis 3, the number of ad pages for the four Canadian and four U.S.
magazines were examined. As shown in Figure 3, the overall number of ad pages for both the
Canadian and U.S. magazines is increasing. The same trend is seen when the Canadian
magazines are examined individually. Reader’s Digest increased its ad pages from 46 in 1998 to
53 in 1999 to 65 in 2000. Canadian Living increased its ad pages from 104 in 1998 to 113 in
1999 to 120 in 2000. Chatelaine’s ad pages have gone from 99 in 1998 to 87 in 1999 to 113 in
2000. The only exception to the trend is Homemaker’s in which ad pages have dropped from 66
in 1998 to 60 in 1999 to 57 in 2000. In general, the data fail to support Hypothesis 3.
Hypothesis 4 predicts shrinking ad sizes for Canadian magazines due to the opening of
the Canadian magazine ad market to foreign competition. Ad size was a ten-level variable
ranging from smallest, 0 “1/4 to less than 1/2 a page,” to largest, 9 “4 or more pages.” In 1998,
the average size of an ad in a Canadian magazine was 3.18 ( a 3 represents a full-page ad). In
1999, this increased to 3.29 and, by 2000, it had increased again to 3.32. In contrast, average ad
sizes for the U.S. magazines decreased from 3.10 in 1998 to 3.03 in 1999 to 2.92 in 2000.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows a significant difference between the results for the
Canadian and U.S. magazines (F(1, 1754) = 10.653, p = .001), but no significant difference
across years overall or interacting with the magazines’ country of origin. The lack of evidence
for shrinking ad sizes leads to the rejection of Hypothesis 4.
Hypothesis 5 predicts less use of ad elements (i.e., color, bleed, mail-in cards attached to
the ad, and smaller than magazine-sized inserts) that increase ad costs due to the opening of the
Canadian magazine ad market to foreign competition. The usage of these elements was counted
for each ad. For Canadian magazines, the average number of these cost-increasing elements was
1.91 per ad in 1998, 1.83 in 1999, and 1.87 in 2000. For U.S. magazines, the average number of
these elements per ad was 1.71 in 1998 and 1.76 in both 1999 and 2000. ANOVA shows no main
effect of year, but a main effect of country of origin (F(1, 1757) = 29.319, p < .001) and a
marginally significant interaction between country of origin and year (F(2, 1757) = 2.618, p =
.073).
Hypothesis 6 predicts a decline in the number of editorial pages. Figure 3 shows that the
number of editorial pages in Canadian magazines has been decreasing, whereas the number of
editorial pages in U.S. magazines have been increasing since the passage of Bill C-55. When
looking at the Canadian magazines individually, the number of editorial pages in Reader’s Digest
has gone from 147 in 1998 to 164 in 1999 to 138 in 2000. The editorial pages for Canadian
Living have dropped from 145 in 1998 to 127 in 1999 to 113 in 2000. The editorial pages for
Homemaker’s have gone from 121 in 1998 to 90 in 1999 to 100 in 2000. For Chatelaine,
however, the editorial pages have increased from 94 in 1998 to 106 in 1999 to 124 in 2000.
Discussion
Unlike the dire predictions voiced by Canadian publishers before the opening of their
previously protected ad revenue market, ad revenue indicators (e.g., the number of ad pages, the
27
average size of ads, and the use of cost-enhancing ad elements) have increased or stayed constant
for Canadian magazines. This indicates that the Canadian magazines have maintained their
competitiveness in the advertising market since the passage of Bill C-55. However, the number
of editorial pages in Canadian magazines have decreased, which suggests that Canadian
publishers are cutting back on printing costs and staff. This may be in anticipation of a negative
impact on profitability that has not come to pass.
General Discussion
The two studies presented in this paper examine the health of the Canadian magazine
industry before and after the end of 34 years of cultural protectionism. Bill C-55, which opened
the Canadian magazine advertising industry to foreign competition, was greatly feared by
Canadian publishers and greatly heralded by Canadian advertisers and U.S. publishers. In
addition to the obvious differences in self-interest between the groups, different theoretical
stances toward globalization led to the vast disagreement regarding the impact of Bill C-55.
Canadian advertisers and the U.S. publishers held that opening the Canadian magazine
advertising market to foreign competition would make Canadian magazine editorial content
stronger because, once Canadian advertisers had a choice as to where to spend their magazine ad
dollars, Canadian publishers would have to deliver desirable target markets to advertisers through
their audiences. To increase their audience, Canadian magazines would have to offer better or
more interesting content. The views of the Canadian advertisers and U.S. publishers reflect
Adam Smith’s theory that the invisible hand of the free market will deliver the best quality
products to consumers. The views of the Canadian publishers reflect the theoretical belief in
cultural protectionism as a necessary barrier to entry, which preserves the cultural identity of
smaller national markets that can never achieve the economies of scale realized by their
competitors from larger national markets.
Interestingly, the results of the two studies reported here appear to support the value of
the free market over cultural protectionism. The end of protectionism has not resulted in a
significant drop in circulation or ad rates, as shown in Study 1, nor a significant drop in ad
revenue indicators (e.g., the number of ad pages, the average size of ads, and the use of cost-
enhancing ad elements). Cultural protectionism seems unnecessary, since, as pointed out by
Straubhaar (1991), consumers gravitate to media vehicles that proximate their own culture. Only
in editorial pages, was a marginally significant drop for Canadian magazines across the years of
the study contrasted with an increase for U.S. magazines.
Another change that has been recently adopted in the Canadian magazine industry should
also help the industry seem more attractive to advertisers. The Print Measurement Bureau has
changed from a Through The Book (TTB) to Recent Reading (RR) methodology for calculating
readers per copy (RPC). This change was endorsed by 91% of Canadian magazine publishers
(Powell, 2001). Among English language Canadian magazines, the change in methodology
increased the average number of readers per copy from 2.3 to 5.9 and the total combined
readership for the 92 measured publications jumped from 45 million to 105 million. The change
was partially implemented because RR is the standard used in the U.S. magazine industry, so
TTB made Canadian magazines appeared to be under-performing in comparison.
The price of cultural protectionism appears to be mediocrity. Cultural industries that are
not forced to compete in open and free markets produce products which no one craves. Such
appeared to be the case with the Canadian magazine industry. Canadian consumers did not crave
the editorial content of Canadian magazines. Even with higher subscription and cover prices than
domestic magazines, U.S. magazines represented over half the magazines sold in Canada and
83% of newsstand sales before the passage of Bill C-55 (Granatstein and Masterton, 1999).
Canadian advertisers also did not crave the audiences offered by Canadian magazines, which
resulted in a much lower proportion of media spending devoted to magazines in Canada than in
28
the U.S. A similar situation is seen in the French film industry, where protectionism has changed
a leading international film-producing country into one with shrinking domestic and international
markets for its products, due to slowly declining quality overall (Scott, 2000). Future research is
needed to follow up on this study in future years and see if the Canadian magazine industry will
continue to be competitive in its own domestic circulation and advertising markets, as well as if
the opening of the market to foreign competition strengthens the industry into producing more
desirable editorial content for readers and more precisely defined audiences for advertisers.
References
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from the Asian Case,” Media, Culture and Society, 22 (July 2000), 415-432.
Granatstein, Lisa, “Crossing the Border”, Mediaweek, (May 31, 1999), 50.
Granatstein, Lisa and John Masterton, “A Border War Brews”, Mediaweek, (Jan. 18, 1999), 42.
Hoskins, Colin and McFadyen, Stuart McFadyen, “The U.S. Competitive Advantage in the
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2001), 66-73.
Nordenstreng, Kaarle and Tapio Varis, Television Traffic -- A One-Way Street? Paris, France:
UNESCO, 1974.
Perlstein, Rick, “People Take to People; It’s the Age of Celebrity,” Columbia Journalism Review,
(November/December 2001), 76-77.
Powell, Chris, “Readership Takes Off,” Marketing Magazine, (October 1, 2001), 10-11.
Scott, Allen J., “Economy, Policy and Place in the Making of a Cultural-Products Industry,”
Theory, Culture & Society, 17 (February 2000), 1-38.
Sreberny-Mohammadi, A., “The Global and the Local in International Communications,” in
James Curran and Michael Gurevitch (eds.) Mass Media and Society, London: Edward Arnold
1990.
Stein, Nicholas, “ Magazine Trade Wars”, Columbia Journalism Review, (Jan/Feb 1999), 20-21.
Straubhaar, J.D., “Beyond Media Imperialism: Asymetrical Interdependence and Cultural
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Tunstall, Jeremy, The Media are American: Anglo-American Media in the World, New York:
Columbia University Press, 1977.
TV Basics 2000-2001, Toronto, ON: Television Bureau of Canada, 2000.
29
Figure 1: One-page Advertising Rate for Canadian Magazines Available all Five Years
10,921.78
10,416.10
10,669.39
10,550.01
10,608.51
8,882.39
8,215.36
8,616.98
8,495.83
8,617.38
$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Four-color bleed Black-and-white
30
Figure 2: Circulation for Canadian Magazines and U.S. Magazines Sold in Canada
5,035,427
4,830,123
4,568,295
4,428,577
4,267,556
15,858,322
15,220,829
16,245,719
16,436,752
19,408,876
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
U.S. magazines Canadian magazines
31
Figure 3: Total Number of Editorial and Ad Pages
507
487
475
484
415
425
355
313
315
227
233
320
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
1998 1999 2000
Number of Pages
Canadian Magazines Editorial Pages U.S. Magazines Editorial Pages
Canadian Magazines Ad Pages U.S. Magazines Ad Pages
32
ASAC 2002
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Sergio Román (Assistant Professor)
José Luis Munuera (Professor)
Salvador Ruiz (Associate Professor)
Marketing Department
Faculty of Business and Economics
University of Murcia (Spain)
DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR: AN
EMPIRICAL STUDY ON SALESPEOPLE
This study proposes a model that identifies some organizational and personal
antecedents and consequences of the ethical behavior of salespeople. The findings
suggest that control system and method of compensation are important determinants of
ethical behavior. Also, age is a significant antecedent of ethical behavior. However, job
experience and education are not significantly related to ethical behavior. Additionally,
salesperson’s ethical behavior leads to lower levels of role conflict and higher levels of
job satisfaction, but not to higher performance. A discussion of the main implications is
presented and managerial implications are given.
Introduction
In today’s competitive environment, the pressure to perform is becoming increasingly intense
(Schewepker and Ingram, 1996). Consequently, many in today’s work force are turning to
unethical practices in an attempt to simply keep their jobs, or derive some benefit for their
companies (Labich, 1992).
Concern about business ethics has resulted in the development of several positive and
normative frameworks for analyzing ethical issues in marketing (Chonko and Hunt, 2000).
Business are likewise responding to the concern about ethics. According to a survey of Fortune
1,000 companies, over 40% of the respondents are conducting ethics seminars and workshops,
and approximately one-third have set un an ethics committee (Labich, 1992).
Sales professionals have been frequent targets of ethical criticism (Abratt and Penman, 2002).
There are several reasons for focusing specific attention on salespeople’s ethical behavior. First,
salespeople work apart from each other, experiencing little daily contact with supervisors,
subordinates or peers (Dubinsky et al., 1986). During these unsupervised time periods the
salesperson may lose sight or even ignore the ethical codes of the organization (Lagace et al.,
1991). Second, salespeople may feel pressure to perform more than other career types and, hence,
may be forced to engage in unethical behavior in order to retain their jobs (Wotruba, 1990).
Third, sales negotiations may set the stage for dishonesty or exaggeration (Bellizi and Hite,
1989). Unethical salesperson behavior, such us overstating the capabilities of a product, could
cause a dispute with the customer, maybe even resulting in litigation (Boedecker et al., 1991).
Despite the importance of understanding salespeople’s ethical behavior, only a few studies
have empirically addressed the antecedents and consequences of such behavior (McClaren,
2000), and none of them, to our knowledge, has simultaneously analyzed the antecedents and
consequences of such behavior. The purpose of this research is to gain a clearer understanding of
the determinants and consequences of the ethical behavior of salespeople. More specifically, we
Return to Division Table of Contents
Veuillez Renvoyer à la Table des Matières de Section
33
aim, on the one hand, to explore some organizational factors (salesforce control system and
reward system) and some personal factors (age, experience and education) affecting the
salesperson’s ethical behavior and, on the other hand, to analyze the effects of this behavior on
the salesperson’s role conflict, performance and satisfaction (see figure 1). First, we develop a
conceptual framework and present the hypotheses to be tested in our study. Then, we briefly
describe the research method and present the major results. We then conclude by suggesting the
key implications of our results.
Figure 1
Conceptual Model
?
1
RE
?
2
CS
?
3
P
?
4
JS
?
2
RC-I
?
1
EB
H3(+)
H1(+)
H2(+)
H6(-)
?
3
AGE
H7(+)
H9(+)
?
4
EX
?
5
EDU
H4(+)
H5(+)
H8(+)
Theoretical background and research hypotheses
Ethics refers to the right and wrong conduct of individuals, it requires an individual to behave
according to the rules of moral philosophy (Gundlach and Murphy, 1993). Ethical selling
behavior is a highly elusive construct and is often situation-specific (Lagace et al., 1991).
Nonetheless, research has identified the main sales practices considered as very unethical: lie or
exaggerate about the benefits of a product, lie about availability to make a sale, sell products that
people do not need, give answers when the answer is not really known, and implement
manipulative influence tactics or high-pressure selling techniques (Chonko and Burnett, 1983;
Levy and Dubinsky, 1983; Lagace et al., 1991; Reidenbach et al., 1991; Tansey et al., 1994;
Verbeke et al., 1996; Singhapakdi et al., 1999). Therefore, unethical sales behavior is a short-run,
expedient perspective devoid of any sense of social responsibility (Dubinsky et al., 1991).
The reward system comprises a set of processes through which behaviors are directed and
motivated to achieve individual and collective goals (Chonko et al., 1996). Compensation plans
emphasising salary are recommended when firms want their salespeople to adopt a long-term
orientation and invest time servicing accounts to realise future sales. In contrast, plans
emphasising incentives are advocated when firms want their salespeople to get immediate sales
(John and Weitz, 1989; Howe et al., 1994). Kurland (1996) did not find a significant relationship
between the percentage of income salespeople earn from commissions and their ethical intentions
toward clients. Recently, Honeycutt et al. (2001) found that automobile salespeople whose
compensation was commission based were more likely to engage in unethical behavior, than
those whose compensation was salary based. The above leads us to propose the first hypothesis:
H1: The higher the fixed salary percentage of the salesperson, the more ethically
the salesperson will behave.
34
Initially, Anderson and Oliver (1987) defined a salesforce control system as a set of
procedures the organization has for monitoring, directing, evaluating, and compensating its
salespeople. However, we follow other researchers that have not considered the compensation
component as a part of the control system (Cravens et al., 1993; Verbeke et al., 1996; Piercy et
al., 2001). In a behavior control system a longer perspective can be assumed because immediate
results can be balanced with long-term sales relationships and outcomes (Oliver and Anderson,
1994). Additionally, quoting Ingram et al. (2001, p.69): “some salespeople do use quota pressure
as an excuse to be deceptive”. Therefore we formulate our second hypothesis:
H2: The more the salesforce control system is behavior-based, the more ethically
the salesperson will behave.
Past research suggests that age has an impact on ethical behaviors and principally proposes
that today’s youth does not have the moral fiber of its elders (Barnett and Karson, 1989). For
example, younger executives are more interested in money and advancement and less interested
in trust and honor (England, 1978). Therefore, younger salespeople who seek money,
advancement, and achievement operate in a much more competitive environment (Johnson et al.,
1986). On the other hand, ethical decision-making and intended ethical behavior, in general,
increases as individuals move from lower levels to higher levels of moral reasoning (Weber and
Grenn, 1991), and moral reasoning is directly linked to age (Honeycutt et al., 2001). Regarding
empirical evidence, Hoffman et al. (1991) and Honeycutt et al. (2001) did not find a significant
relationship between the salesperson’s age and his/her ethical behavior. However, Mason and
Mudrack (1996) reported a positive relationship between age and ethical sensitivity. Results from
Dubinsky et al. (1992) indicate that age is the only demographic factor that has a significant
impact on salespeople’s ethical perception. Accordingly we formulate the following:
H3: The older the salesperson, the more ethically the salesperson will behave.
According to Dubinsky and Ingram (1984), the longer the salespeople have been in their jobs
and have accumulated work experience, the more time they have to address or reconcile ethical
conflict. And, the greater the sales experience, the more likely the salesperson will recognize that
ethical practices are necessary for success (Honeycutt and Ford, 1993). Regarding empirical
evidence, Hoffman et al. (1991) and Singhapakdi and Vitell (1991) did not find a significant
relationship between business experience and how a salesperson perceives an ethical problem.
However, salespeople in the early stages of their careers make numerous cold calls to meet sales
quotas to build a client base. Hence, these individuals, in contrast to their more experience
counterparts, operate in a much more competitive environment on a day to day basis (Dalrymple
and Cron, 1998). Recently, Schwepker (1999) shows that there is a negative relationship between
perceived competitive intensity and salesperson’s intention to behave unethically. All the above
leads us to propose the fourth hypothesis:
H4: The more experienced the salesperson, the more ethically the salesperson will
behave.
Education is often identified as an influence of ethical decision-making (Wotruba, 1990).
According to Singhapakdi et al. (1999), education is believed to result in greater sensitivity to
different points of view and to be linked to a person’s stage of cognitive moral development.
Therefore, more educated salespeople can be expected to have a greater level of cognitive moral
development than those who are less educated (Honeycutt et al., 2001). That is to say, more
educated salespeople are less likely to engage in unethical behavior than less educated
salespeople. Accordingly, we propose that:
H5: The more educated the salesperson, the more ethically the salesperson will
behave.
35
Following Kahn et al. (1964) and Rizzo et al. (1970), role conflict can be defined in terms of
the dimensions of congruency-incongruency or compatibility-incompatibility in the requirements
of the salesperson role, where congruency or compatibility is judged relative to a set of standards
which affect role performance. Role conflict can be conceptualized in terms of the following five
conflict types or dimensions (Rizzo et al., 1970; Michaels et al., 1987): intrasender, intersender,
person-role, interrole and role overload.
Chonko and Burnett (1983) provided empirical evidence of selling ethical behavior reducing
salesperson’s role conflict. However, Dubinsky and Ingram (1984) did not find a significant
relationship between these two variables. Following Singh (2000), we understand that the use of
disaggregated conceptualization of role conflict is likely to yield clearer results. Therefore, we
focus on the relationship between ethical behavior and role conflict-intersender. Role conflict-
intersender involves conflicting expectations from two or more role partners (e.g., boss and
customers) (Singh, 2000). Customers are one of the major sources of this type of role conflict, as
they try to satisfy their own objectives and needs in a sales transaction, and are often unaware of
the policies and constraints the salesman is operating (Walker et al., 1975). Ingram et al. (2001)
recently argue that ethical selling behavior implies selling the product that the customer really
needs. Therefore we understand that salesperson’s ethical behavior will reduce role conflict at
least the percentage that is attributable to the customer, which is to say:
H6: Salesperson’s ethical behavior will negatively influence salesperson’s role
conflic-intersender.
Salesperson performance represents behaviors that are evaluated in terms of their
contributions to the goals of the organization (Walker et al., 1979; Churchill et al., 1985).
Salesperson’s ethical behavior has been found positively related to customer trust and
satisfaction, thus enhancing relationship quality and the probability of future rewards (Lagace et
al., 1991). The study carried out by Weeks and Nantel (1992) showed that those salespeople who
worked for an organization in which they understood their company policy regarding conducting
ethical business were moderately successful in their jobs. Later, Honeycutt et al. (1995) found
that high performance salespeople reported high ethical behavior, and Swepker and Ingram
(1996) have provided empirical evidence of salespeople’s moral judgements as being positively
related to their job performance. Accordingly we propose that:
H7: Salesperson’s ethical behavior will positively influence salesperson’s
performance.
Churchill et al. (1974, p. 225) defined job satisfaction as: “all characteristics of the job itself
and the work environment which (industrial) salesmen find rewarding, fulfilling, and satisfying,
or frustrating and unsatisfying”. The job satisfaction of salespeople can be weakened if they
perceived the organization rewarding the unethical behaviors of co-workers (Bellizzi and Hite,
1989). Results from Beatty et al. (1996) show that when salespeople had customers’ best interests
in mind and were honest to them, their job satisfaction increased. Recently, findings from
Schwepker’s (2001) study suggest that when an ethical climate is fostered, salesperson job
satisfaction increases. Accordingly, we formulate the following:
H8: Salesperson’s ethical behavior will positively influence salesperson’s job
satisfaction.
Some studies have not found a significant relationship between performance and satisfaction
(Brown and Peterson, 1994; Sohi, 1996) whereas others have (Bagozzi, 1980; Michaels et al.,
1987; Babakus et al., 1999). According to MacKenzie et al. (1998, p.88) “the nature of the
relationship between performance and satisfaction is still in doubt and warrants further
discussion”. Therefore, we hypothesise the following:
36
H9: Salesperson’s job performance will positively influence salesperson’s job
satisfaction.
This relationship, in turn, implies an indirect effect of the salesperson’s ethical behavior on
the job satisfaction through performance.
Method
Data Collection and Sample
In order to test the proposed conceptual model, the cooperation of three Spanish financial
service institutions of approximately the same size was obtained. Following Dubinsky et al. (1991
and 1992), salespeople from only one industry were surveyed to hold constant the type of product
sold. Prior research has found that salesperson job-related responses vary across sales settings
(Churchill et al., 1985). Following Kelley (1992) and Boorom et al. (1998) questionnaires were
administered during regularly scheduled meetings to a total of 280 financial services salespeople.
All of them completed the questionnaires. Respondents were assured that their responses would
be kept confidential and the questionnaires were immediately given to the researchers. In
exchange for salespeople completing data, we provided a sales training seminar following the
data collection so as not to bias responses. The salespeople we questioned were mainly
specializing in selling high-involvement financial products (e.g., mortgages, life insurance) to
final consumers. 83% of them were male, 60% were between 26 and 39 years old, 48% had a
college degree and 56% had a selling experience of 4 and 15 years.
Measures
All scales consisted of 10-point multiple-item Likert questions except the reward system
(RE), salesperson’s age (AGE), experience (EX) and education (EDU) that were single-item
questions, the last three were 5-point Likert questions. All scales had been used in previous
research. Following Cravens et al. (1993), the reward system (RE) was assessed as the fixed
salary percentage. Salesforce control system (CS) was measured by a 9-item scale
adapted
from Oliver and Anderson (1994) and Verbeke et al. (1996). Salesperson’s ethical behavior was
measured by a 5-item scale adapted from Lagace et al. (1991). Role conflict-intersender (RCI)
was measured by the original 2 items that composed these dimension in Rizzo’s et al. (1970)
scale. Performance (P) was measured by the 5 items that composed the “sales presentation”
dimension in Behrman and Perrault’s (1982) study. Following Dubinsky et al. (1986), job
satisfaction was assessed by a 3-item version of Hackman and Oldman (1975) scale.
All measures were then analyzed for realiability, convergent and discriminant validity by
estimating a measurement model using LISREL 8.30 (Jöreskog and Sörbom, 1996) and taking
into account the guidelines offered by Fornell and Larcker (1981), Anderson and Gerbing (1989)
and Bagozzi and Yi (1991). The resulting measurement model
(
2
(80) was 136.37 (p