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We provide a comprehensive and user-friendly compendium of standards for the use and interpretation of structural equation models (SEMs). To both read about and do research that employs SEMs, it is necessary to master the art and science of the statistical procedures underpinning SEMs in an integrative way with the substantive concepts, theories, and hypotheses that researchers desire to examine. Our aim is to remove some of the mystery and uncertainty of the use of SEMs, while conveying the spirit of their possibilities.

We investigate the mediating role of moral emotions and their contingency on individual characteristics in consumer responses to corporate green and non-green actions. Two between subjects experiments were conducted to test our hypotheses on samples of adult consumers. The results show that, for corporate non-green actions, various individual difference characteristics (social justice values, empathy, moral identity, self-concept) moderate the elicitation of negative moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust), which, in turn, lead to consumer negative responses (negative word of mouth, complaint behaviors, boycotting). Moreover, for corporate green actions, empathy moderates elicitation of positive emotions on gratitude, which, in turn, influences consumer positive responses (positive word of mouth, resistance to negative information, identification with the company, investment). This study adds to extant research by examining understudied “hot” moral emotional processes underlying consumer reactions toward corporate environmental responsibility and irresponsibility. Implications for marketing communication and segmentation decisions are considered.

Although a lot of research establishes consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility (CSR), little is known about the theoretical mechanisms for these reactions. We conduct a field experiment with adult consumers to test the hypothesis that the effects of perceived CSR on consumer reactions are mediated by felt gratitude and moderated by the magnitude of altruistic values held by consumers. Two classes of consumer reactions are considered: intentions to (1) say positive things about the company, and (2) participate in advocacy actions benefiting the company.

Scholars have shown renewed interest in the construct of courage. Recent studies have explored its theoretical underpinnings and measurement. Yet courage is generally discussed in its broad form to include physical, psychological, and moral features. To understand a more practical form of moral courage, research is needed to uncover how ethical challenges are effectively managed in organizational settings. We argue that professional moral courage (PMC) is a managerial competency. To describe it and derive items for scale development, we studied managers in the U.S. military and examined prior work on moral courage. Two methods were used to measure PMC producing a five dimensional scale that organized under a single second-order factor, which we termed overall PMC. The five dimensions are moral agency, multiple values, endurance of threats, going beyond compliance, and moral goals. Convergent and discriminant validity are analyzed by use of confirmatory factor analysis procedures. We conclude by presenting a framework for proactive organizational ethics, which reflects how to support PMC as a management practice.

One important aspect in the service-dominant logic in marketing is the role of customers as co-creators of value. This role typically involves producing products for own consumption, i.e. what Toffler referred to as “prosumption.” This study explores the motivational mechanisms underlying people’s prosumption propensity. A theoretical framework that incorporates ideas from value research and attitude theory, specifically the “theory of trying” (Bagozzi and Warshaw in Journal of Consumer Research 17:127–140, 1990), is developed and tested in the empirical context of food prosumption. The results based on a survey of 380 households show that global values influence domain-specific values in food prosumption, and domain-specific values then affect attitudes, self-efficacy, and on-going behavior before ultimately shaping intentions to engage in prosumption in the future.

We conceptualize participation in Linux user groups (LUGs) in terms of group-referent intentional actions and investigate cognitive (attitudes, perceived behavioral control, identification with the open source movement), affective (positive and negative anticipated emotions), and social (social identity) determinants of participation and its consequences on Linux-related behaviors of users. This survey-based study, conducted with 402 active LUG members representing 191 different LUGs from 23 countries and employing structural equation modeling methodology, supports the proposed model. Furthermore, we find that the Linux user’s experience level moderates the extent of the LUG’s social influence and its impact on the user’s participation. We conclude with a consideration of the managerial and research implications of the study’s findings.

Despite renewed interest and many advances in methodology in recent years, information systems and organizational researchers face confusing and inconsistent guidance on how to choose amongst, implement, and interpret findings from the use of different measurement procedures. In this article, the related topics of measurement and construct validity are summarized and discussed, with particular focus on formative and reflective indicators and common method bias, and, where relevant, a number of allied issues are considered. The perspective taken is an eclectic and holistic one and attempts to address conceptual and philosophical essentials, raise salient questions, and pose plausible solutions to critical measurement dilemmas occurring in the managerial, behavioral, and social sciences.

Using a grounded theory approach, the authors investigate the nature and consequences of brand love. Arguing that research on brand love needs to be built on an understanding of how consumers actually experience this phenomenon, they conduct two qualitative studies to uncover the different elements (\"features\") of the consumer prototype of brand love. Then, they use structural equations modeling on survey data to explore how these elements can be modeled as both first-order and higher-order structural models. A higher-order model yields seven core elements: self-brand integration, passion-driven behaviors, positive emotional connection, long-term relationship, positive overall attitude valence, attitude certainty and confidence (strength), and anticipated separation distress. In addition to these seven core elements of brand love itself, the prototype includes quality beliefs as an antecedent of brand love and brand loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance to negative information as outcomes. Both the firstorder and higher-order brand love models predict loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance better, and provide a greater understanding, than an overall summary measure of brand love. The authors conclude by presenting theoretical and managerial implications.

This article investigates the effects of perceived supervisor support on ethical (organizational citizenship behaviors) and unethical employee behavior (counterproductive workplace behavior) using a multi-method approach (one experiment and one field survey with multiple waves and supervisor ratings of employees). Specifically, we test the mediating mechanism (i.e., supervisor-based self-esteem) and a boundary condition (i.e., employee task satisfaction) that moderate the relationship between support and (un)ethical employee behaviors. We find that supervisor-based self-esteem fully mediates the relationship between supervisor support and (un)ethical employee behavior and that employee task satisfaction intensifies the relationship between supervisor support and supervisor-based self-esteem.

Batra et al. (Journal of Marketing 76, 1–16, 2012) created a new conceptualization of brand love but did not develop a pragmatically useful measure for studies where questionnaire length is a constraint. The current research develops a more parsimonious brand love scale, with three nested versions of 26, 13, and 6 items, respectively. This research also validates the scales, and in so doing conducts several important validity tests not considered by Batra et al. The 26-item scale is able to predict consumer loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance to negative information, with an R² of .90, after correcting for measurement error.