The influence of culture on consumer perceptions of deceptiveness

Purpose This study aims to apply McCornack’s (1992) information manipulation theory to the context of fraud and investigates the effects of culture on perceived deceptiveness. Design/methodology/approach In total, 400 Chinese consumers and an equal-size sample of Canadian consumers were recruited to fill an online survey. The survey integrates four scenarios of insurance fraud and measures of perceived deceptiveness, cultural tightness and horizontal-vertical idiocentrism allocentrism, in addition to some control variables. Findings Results show that at the societal level of culture, perceived deceptiveness is higher in individualistic than in collectivistic cultures. When accounting for the level of situational constraint, cultural tightness was found to magnify the perceived deceptiveness. At the individual level of culture, vertical-allocentrism and vertical-idiocentrism were found to weigh against the perception of deceptiveness. Originality/value Understanding cultural differences in perceived deceptiveness is helpful to spot sources of consumers’ vulnerability to fraud tolerance among a culturally diverse public.

Acceptance and usage of mHealth technologies amid COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country: the UTAUT combined with situational constraint and health consciousness

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has created a devastating effect on public health. As “social distance” is a highly effective preventive measure of this pandemic, close contact between a patient and physician is strongly discouraged where possible. Consequently, mobile health (mHealth) technology is taking its momentum to fulfil this gap. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to empirically investigate the moderating as well as the direct role of situational constraint and health consciousness in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) constructs to understand the adoption and use behavior of mHealth care services amid pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from existing mHealth users using an online survey questionnaire in Bangladesh. SmartPLS 3.0 and SPSS 23.0 were used for partial least squares-structural equation modeling. Findings Situational constraint and health consciousness both have strong direct positive effects on both behavioral intention (in all models) and use behavior (in Models 2 and 3). Further, this study revealed that effort expectancy remains insignificant in both direct and interaction effects whereas social influence becomes insignificant in interaction effects from direct significant effect (Models 1 and 2). Besides, the study reported that the relationship between behavioral intention and use behavior is moderated by situational constraint. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first in terms of mHealth empirical investigation considering the current pandemic situation. The incorporation of the situational constraint and health consciousness into the UTAUT model provides a holistic framework to understand the influence of the adoption and use behavior of mHealth amid pandemic.

Currency Choice in Industrial Pricing: A Cross-National Evaluation

In this article, the authors explore the antecedents of currency choice in export transactions by U.S., Swedish, and Finnish firms. Using a framework adapted from exporting literature and negotiation theory, the authors examine relationships between the transaction currency and three sets of constructs, predicated in negotiation and bargaining literature, as well as performance measures. Results indicate a strong relationship between currency choice and process-related and firm characteristic measures. However, situational constraint factors do not exert much influence on transaction currency. The logistic regression model confirms these results with 83% correct classification. The authors demonstrate that the use of foreign currencies is related positively to export volume and transaction value but inversely affects export profit margin.