No abstract

This article is a summarizing review on religiosity and consumer behavior. Review findings from marketing literature indicate that religiosity influences consumer outcomes like materialism, intolerance, ethics, and risk aversion. It also impacts consumer attitude toward religious products and economic shopping behavior. A conceptual framework is presented to depict how certain dimensions of religion can explain the psychological mechanisms underlying these effects. Specifically, we propose prayer (religious rituals), religious exclusivism and divine retribution (religious beliefs), frugality (religious values) and religious community involvement and religious identity (religious community) as possible antecedents that drive the previously established differences in consumer behavior. For each of these antecedents, we offer definitions and integrate research findings from psychology, religion and marketing to build testable propositions. This essay complements preceding work and at the same time expands and broadens it by developing theory regarding the causal linkages between religiosity and consumer outcomes.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of selling experience on the relationship between job satisfaction and sales performance, customer orientation and sales performance, and adaptive selling behaviors and sales performance, taking the context of B2B insurance selling. Design/methodology/approach -Using a sample of 380 business-to-business insurance salespersons from an emerging market (India) to validate their model, the authors tested several hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings -The results suggest that experience works with customer-oriented selling in making the more experienced salespersons better performers. It was also found that for less experienced salespersons, the impact of job satisfaction on performance is weaker than for more experienced salespersons. In addition, it was found that more experienced salespersons' performance is better explained using job satisfaction and customeroriented selling rather than their adaptive selling behaviors.Research limitations/implications -The study contributes by explaining the mechanism for the above relationships. The study also contributes to knowledge by showing that more experience may not be always good for sales performance. Since the sample comes from an emerging market, the paper extends the knowledge from developed markets, and by testing in emerging markets. Practical implications -The managerial implications of this study lie in explaining those situations where experience can make salespersons more productive. The current sales literature on B2B selling contexts falls short of explaining this mechanism in salesperson performance. Originality/value -This study contributes to knowledge uniquely by extending the body of empirical evidence that suggests that for experience, more is not always better. The study also shows that a more experienced salesperson does not improve his/her performance by adopting adaptive selling strategies. Such adaptive selling strategies are probably more suitable for younger salespersons, given different expectations from them by customers. For experienced salespersons, job satisfaction and customer-oriented selling are more important than adaptive selling. This study explains the mechanism for the above relationships.

No abstract

The method of singular value decomposition is shown to have useful application to the problem of reducing the equations of motion for a class of constrained dynamical systems to their minimum dimension. This method is shown to be superior to classical Gaussian elimination for several reasons: {i) The resulting equations of motion are assured to be of full rank, (ii) The process is more amenable to automation, as may be appropriate in the development of a computer program for application to a generic class of systems. (Hi) The analyst is spared the responsibility for the selection of specific coordinates to be eliminated by substitution in each individual case, a selection that has no physical justification but presents abundant risk of mathematical contradiction. This approach is shown to be very efficient when the governing dynamical equations are derived via Kane's method.

This paper addresses the research question, "How can the use of information and communication technology (ICT) enable development of markets at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP)?" Integrating ideas centered on the threefold role of ICT (automateinformate-transform), market mechanisms, and agency freedom aspects of ICT-enabled development, we examine how (1) ICT facilitate development of market mechanisms at the BOP, (2) market mechanisms enable economic and social benefit outcomes for BOP markets and members, and (3) complementary conditions facilitate or hinder ICTenabled market development. The findings are based on qualitative primary data from interviews with 27 BOP individuals from India, and from published and secondary examples. Theoretical contributions and implications for practice and further research are discussed.

No abstract

No abstract