Publications

The KCG has various series of publications to provide research findings and policy implications to different interested groups, e.g., students, academics, policy makers and the public.

Ethical Products = Less Strong: How Explicit and Implicit Reliance on the Lay Theory Affects Consumption Behaviors

21st December 2017
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Authors: Robert Mai, Stefan Hoffmann, Wassili Lasarov and Arne Buhs (Journal of Business Ethics, 2019, Vol. 158, 659–677)

Many consumers implicitly associate sustainability with lower product strength. This so-called ethical = less strong intuition (ELSI) poses a major threat for the success of sustainable products. This article explores this pervasive lay theory and examines whether it is a key barrier for sustainable consumption patterns. Even more importantly, little is known about the underlying mechanisms that might operate differently at the implicit[…]

The Tenure-Based Customer Retention Model: A Cross-Cultural Validation

21st December 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Carolin Krauts and Stefan Hoffmann (Journal of International Marketing, 2017, Vol. 25(3), 83-106)

International businesses and their marketing managers face complexity in the targeting of different customer groups in multiple countries, with different purchase histories and brand relationship tenures. Thus far, no customer retention model has been suggested to sufficiently reduce such complexity. To fill the gap, this study distinguishes three global customer groups—brand stayers, brand switchers, and category novices[…]

Consumer Response to Unethical Corporate Behavior: A Re-Examination and Extension of the Moral Decoupling Model

21st December 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Kristina Haberstroh. Ulrich Orth, Stefan Hoffmann and Berit Brunk (Journal of Business Ethics, 2017, Vol. 140(1), 161-173)

This research replicates Bhattacharjee et al. (J Consum Res 39(4):1167–1184, 2013) moral decoupling model and extends the original along the dimensions of theory, method, and context. Adopting a branding perspective and focusing on the corporate domain rather than the public figures investigated by Bhattacharjee and colleagues, this research examines the proposition that consumers dissociate judgments of morality from judgments of performance to justify purchasing from companies deemed to act immorally[…]

KCG Working Paper No. 4: Export Market Exit and Financial Health in Crises Periods

19th October 2017
KCG Secretary
Publications
Publications
Authors: Holger Görg and Marina-Eliza Spaliara

This paper uses rich firm-level data for the UK to investigate the link between firms’ financial health and export exit, paying attention to the ERM currency crisis and the global financial crisis. Our results show that deterioration in the financial position of firms has increased the hazard of export exit during the 2007-09 crisis but has no significant effect on the early 1990s crisis. We also explore the extent to which firms in financially vulnerable industries face greater sensitivity of export exit to financial conditions. We conclude that firms in sectors with great reliance on external finance experience higher hazards of exiting the export market during the 2007-09 crisis..[…]

How Global is FDI? Evidence from the Analysis of Theil Indices

10th August 2017
KCG Secretary
Authors: Frank Bickenbach, Wan-Hsin Liu and Peter Nunnenkamp (Empirical Economics, 2018, Vol. 55(4), 1603-1635)

It is open to question whether the intensified worldwide competition for FDI has reduced its traditionally strong concentration in a few large and relatively advanced host countries. We calculate and decompose Theil indices to track changes in absolute and relative concentration of FDI during the period 1970-2013. We find that both absolute and relative concentration decreased when excluding offshore financial centres from the overall sample. In addition to the narrowing gap between OECD and non-OECD countries, the concentration across non-OECD countries declined for both the absolute and relative measures[…]