While ethics and utility maximisation in economics seem mutually exclusive, ethics has recently b... more While ethics and utility maximisation in economics seem mutually exclusive, ethics has recently become an issue in fi nancial markets. The market demand for ethical investment is increasing, suggesting that investment decisions are infl uenced both by fi nancial and moral con- siderations. Therefore, marketing strategies for ethical investment are needed. First designed for describing ethical decision processes in business organisations, the issue-contingent model of ethical decision making in organisations is applied in the present study to explain ethical investment decisions. Using a questionnaire, 286 participants completed items regarding one of four investment scenarios of companies differing in the morality of their business conduct. Re- sults show that the issue-contingent model is suitable to describe ethical investment decisions. High perceived moral intensity led to the recognition of the moral issue and positively infl uenced the making of a moral judgment. For marketing...
Responses to norm violators are poorly understood. On one hand, norm violators are perceived as p... more Responses to norm violators are poorly understood. On one hand, norm violators are perceived as powerful, which may help them to get ahead. On the other hand, norm violators evoke moral outrage, which may frustrate their upward social mobility. We addressed this paradox by considering the role of culture. Collectivistic cultures value group harmony and tight cultures value social order. We therefore hypothesized that collectivism and tightness moderate reactions to norm violators. We presented 2,369 participants in 19 countries with a norm violation or a norm adherence scenario. In individualistic cultures, norm violators were considered more powerful than norm abiders and evoked less moral outrage, whereas in collectivistic cultures, norm violators were considered less powerful and evoked more moral outrage. Moreover, respondents in tighter cultures expressed a stronger preference for norm followers as leaders. Cultural values thus influence responses to norm violators, which may h...
Since sex roles of women and men have been changing in the last three decades, it is expected tha... more Since sex roles of women and men have been changing in the last three decades, it is expected that influence patterns in purchase decisions have altered, too. In two cross- sectional studies the influence patterns of couples from three different age groups are compared. Younger couples compared to older ones should report to make their purchase decisions (a) more often syncratically, meaning that decisions are reached by both partners together, and (b) more often autonomically, meaning that decisions are made individually, but with no gender-specific influence pattern. In study 1, answers of 806 individuals generally do not show any sex role changes in economic decisions on goods. Solely, the decision process for a female dominated product category shifts slightly to jointly made purchase decisions. In study 2 these findings are confirmed by data from 280 couples. While purchase decisions for cooking utensils and cleaning agents show a shift for answers of age groups, no differences...
Economy has changed; while in earlier times the possession of goods has been important to consume... more Economy has changed; while in earlier times the possession of goods has been important to consumers, nowadays consumers rather try to have access to them (Belk, 2014). The so-called sharing economy enables consumers to share goods and services, such as rooms (cf. Airbnb), mobility services (cf. Blablacar), or self-produced vegetables (cf. community gardens). The Internet was key to the development of the sharing economy; with this achievement, the sharing economy expanded (Puschmann and Alt, 2016), and research on the sharing economy accumulated. Trust is a fundamental aspect that keeps the sharing economy running (Möhlmann, 2015). Trust means that consumers make themselves vulnerable toward different actors (Rousseau et al., 1998). There needs to be trust toward the sharing organization (e.g., Airbnb), toward consumers offering their goods and services, toward other consumers and also toward the technology providing the platform. Several articles (e.g., Kong et al., 2020) address t...
One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages co... more One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages contributed by numerous package authors. This makes an extremely broad range of statistical techniques and other quantitative methods freely available. So far no empirical study has investigated psychological factors that drive authors to participate in the R project. This article presents a study of R package authors, collecting data on different types of participation (number of packages, participation in mailing lists, participation in conferences), three psychological scales (types of motivation, psychological values, and work design characteristics), as well as various sociodemographic factors. The data are analyzed using item response models and subsequent generalized linear models, showing that the most important determinants for participation are a hybrid form of motivation and the social characteristics of the work design. Other factors are found to have less impact or influence o...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 9, 2015
One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages co... more One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages contributed by numerous package authors. This amount of packages makes an extremely broad range of statistical techniques and other quantitative methods freely available. Thus far, no empirical study has investigated psychological factors that drive authors to participate in the R project. This article presents a study of R package authors, collecting data on different types of participation (number of packages, participation in mailing lists, participation in conferences), three psychological scales (types of motivation, psychological values, and work design characteristics), and various socio-demographic factors. The data are analyzed using item response models and subsequent generalized linear models, showing that the most important determinants for participation are a hybrid form of motivation and the social characteristics of the work design. Other factors are found to have less impac...
While ethics and utility maximisation in economics seem mutually exclusive, ethics has recently b... more While ethics and utility maximisation in economics seem mutually exclusive, ethics has recently become an issue in fi nancial markets. The market demand for ethical investment is increasing, suggesting that investment decisions are infl uenced both by fi nancial and moral con- siderations. Therefore, marketing strategies for ethical investment are needed. First designed for describing ethical decision processes in business organisations, the issue-contingent model of ethical decision making in organisations is applied in the present study to explain ethical investment decisions. Using a questionnaire, 286 participants completed items regarding one of four investment scenarios of companies differing in the morality of their business conduct. Re- sults show that the issue-contingent model is suitable to describe ethical investment decisions. High perceived moral intensity led to the recognition of the moral issue and positively infl uenced the making of a moral judgment. For marketing...
Responses to norm violators are poorly understood. On one hand, norm violators are perceived as p... more Responses to norm violators are poorly understood. On one hand, norm violators are perceived as powerful, which may help them to get ahead. On the other hand, norm violators evoke moral outrage, which may frustrate their upward social mobility. We addressed this paradox by considering the role of culture. Collectivistic cultures value group harmony and tight cultures value social order. We therefore hypothesized that collectivism and tightness moderate reactions to norm violators. We presented 2,369 participants in 19 countries with a norm violation or a norm adherence scenario. In individualistic cultures, norm violators were considered more powerful than norm abiders and evoked less moral outrage, whereas in collectivistic cultures, norm violators were considered less powerful and evoked more moral outrage. Moreover, respondents in tighter cultures expressed a stronger preference for norm followers as leaders. Cultural values thus influence responses to norm violators, which may h...
Since sex roles of women and men have been changing in the last three decades, it is expected tha... more Since sex roles of women and men have been changing in the last three decades, it is expected that influence patterns in purchase decisions have altered, too. In two cross- sectional studies the influence patterns of couples from three different age groups are compared. Younger couples compared to older ones should report to make their purchase decisions (a) more often syncratically, meaning that decisions are reached by both partners together, and (b) more often autonomically, meaning that decisions are made individually, but with no gender-specific influence pattern. In study 1, answers of 806 individuals generally do not show any sex role changes in economic decisions on goods. Solely, the decision process for a female dominated product category shifts slightly to jointly made purchase decisions. In study 2 these findings are confirmed by data from 280 couples. While purchase decisions for cooking utensils and cleaning agents show a shift for answers of age groups, no differences...
Economy has changed; while in earlier times the possession of goods has been important to consume... more Economy has changed; while in earlier times the possession of goods has been important to consumers, nowadays consumers rather try to have access to them (Belk, 2014). The so-called sharing economy enables consumers to share goods and services, such as rooms (cf. Airbnb), mobility services (cf. Blablacar), or self-produced vegetables (cf. community gardens). The Internet was key to the development of the sharing economy; with this achievement, the sharing economy expanded (Puschmann and Alt, 2016), and research on the sharing economy accumulated. Trust is a fundamental aspect that keeps the sharing economy running (Möhlmann, 2015). Trust means that consumers make themselves vulnerable toward different actors (Rousseau et al., 1998). There needs to be trust toward the sharing organization (e.g., Airbnb), toward consumers offering their goods and services, toward other consumers and also toward the technology providing the platform. Several articles (e.g., Kong et al., 2020) address t...
One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages co... more One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages contributed by numerous package authors. This makes an extremely broad range of statistical techniques and other quantitative methods freely available. So far no empirical study has investigated psychological factors that drive authors to participate in the R project. This article presents a study of R package authors, collecting data on different types of participation (number of packages, participation in mailing lists, participation in conferences), three psychological scales (types of motivation, psychological values, and work design characteristics), as well as various sociodemographic factors. The data are analyzed using item response models and subsequent generalized linear models, showing that the most important determinants for participation are a hybrid form of motivation and the social characteristics of the work design. Other factors are found to have less impact or influence o...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 9, 2015
One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages co... more One of the cornerstones of the R system for statistical computing is the multitude of packages contributed by numerous package authors. This amount of packages makes an extremely broad range of statistical techniques and other quantitative methods freely available. Thus far, no empirical study has investigated psychological factors that drive authors to participate in the R project. This article presents a study of R package authors, collecting data on different types of participation (number of packages, participation in mailing lists, participation in conferences), three psychological scales (types of motivation, psychological values, and work design characteristics), and various socio-demographic factors. The data are analyzed using item response models and subsequent generalized linear models, showing that the most important determinants for participation are a hybrid form of motivation and the social characteristics of the work design. Other factors are found to have less impac...
Uploads
Papers