Vignette-based Experiment Research Articles

Mobilizing Social Capital

Much of the research on mobilizing social capital focuses on the idea that potential resources accessible through existing relationships are converted into actual resources, such as a productive collaboration or useful advice. Less well understood is how this mobilization process occurs, in part because it is difficult to tease apart potential versus actual resources inherent in existing ties that are active and ongoing. To overcome this obstacle, we explore the mobilization process in the situation of dormant ties (i.e., people you used to know) that are reconnected, thereby allowing us to see more clearly how a tie’s potential value can be mobilized and turned into actual value. To do so, we conducted research combining an inductive, qualitative field study of reconnections in the North Italian textile district (Study 1) and, to validate our findings, a vignette-based experiment with U.S. workers (Study 2). We find that the mobilization process can and does fail, sometimes dramatically, when people do not refresh the tie and thereby do not know where they stand with each other. More specifically, we find that three elements—remembering, catching up, and perceiving the tie similarly—are key in successfully mobilizing social capital.

When form deviates from the norm: attitudes towards old and new vernacular features and their impact on the perceived credibility and usefulness of Facebook consumer reviews

We investigate the impact of deviations from Standard Dutch in the form of old (e.g. tussentaal) and new (e.g. emoji and chatspeak) vernacular features on consumer perceptions of the credibility and usefulness of Facebook reviews in a 2 (positive, negative) × 2 (old vernacular features or not) × 2 (new vernacular features or not) between-subjects vignette-based experiment with 483 Flemish Facebook users. Additionally, we probe into our respondents' attitudes towards these non-standard features in this setting. While the use of Standard Dutch is evaluated positively and generally associated with the highest credibility and usefulness ratings, there does seem to be a certain tolerance towards non-standard language, especially new vernacular features. Our findings show that the use of old vernacular features, on the other hand, is evaluated rather negatively by our respondents and leads to slightly lower message credibility ratings (compared to strict adherence to Standard Dutch). Source credibility, however, was not significantly influenced by the presence of non-standard language features. While Standard Dutch can be considered the benchmark for written communication in this setting as well, it appears to be acceptable for consumers to be creative and express their emotions via new vernacular features.

What drives managers to insource production? Evidence from a behavioural experiment

Insourcing to countermand previous outsourcing decisions is becoming a widespread practice among firms. While the underlying performance drivers for firms (e.g., lead times, responsiveness, or security of supply) are well understood, the behavioural aspects underlying managerial decision-making processes regarding insourcing remain overlooked in empirical research. We study the effects of managers' attitudes toward insourcing, their perceived behavioural control (PBC) over the respective insourcing decision, and the effect of mimetic pressure on insourcing decision intentions and behaviour, while grounding our model in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). We test hypotheses with data gathered in a vignette-based experiment among 145 managers and apply stepwise regression analysis to find support for the positive effects of attitude and mimetic pressure on intentions to insource. Our results found no support for the effect of managers’ PBC. We find moderation effects among the internal drivers (attitude and PBC) and between internal and external drivers (attitude and mimetic pressure) on insourcing behaviour. With these findings, we provide evidence of a unique boundary condition to the TPB in the insourcing context by explaining supply chain design choices with neo-classical and behavioural theory. We emphasize important behavioural aspects in insourcing decision-making and caution supply managers in this regard.

Insider’s corruption versus outsider’s ethicality? Individual responses to conflicting institutional logics

In this article, we seek to understand whether and to what extent the sense of belonging to a powerful network affects individual decision-making in terms of ethicality with regard to a corrupt situation. We study the behaviour of insiders (individuals who belong to a power network, i.e. a network of individuals connected by interpersonal relationships to a person in a position of power) and outsiders in a corrupt versus non-corrupt environments using the theoretical frameworks of institutional logics and informal networks. Our hypotheses were tested with the help of a vignette-based experiment with 464 participants from countries considered as corrupt (Kazakhstan and Russia) and non-corrupt (UK and USA).

Addressing supplier sustainability misconducts: response strategies to nonmarket stakeholder contentions

PurposeFirms are increasingly accountable for their suppliers' social and environmental practices. Nonmarket stakeholders nowadays do not hesitate to confront buying firms for their suppliers' misconducts by mobilizing demonstrations, social media campaigns and boycotts. This paper aims to develop a typology of response strategies by targeted firms when they face such contentions and to empirically investigate why these strategies vary among those firms.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on social movement and stakeholder salience theories, the authors develop a set of hypotheses linking their typology of four response strategies to three key contextual factors – nonmarket stakeholder salience, nonmarket stakeholder ideology and the target firm reputation – and examine them using a vignette-based experiment methodology.FindingsThe results suggest that nonmarket stakeholder salience significantly impacts the nature of response (reject or concede), whereas the nonmarket stakeholder ideology is significantly related to the intensity of response (trivial or vigorous). Interestingly, the firms' reputation was found to have no significant effect on their response strategy when they faced stakeholder contentions.Originality/valueThis paper adds both theoretical and methodological value to the existing literature. Theoretically, the study develops and tests a comprehensive typology of response strategies to nonmarket stakeholder contentions. Methodologically, this study is original in leveraging a vignette-based experiment that allows establishing causal factors of response strategies following a supplier sustainability misconduct.

Performance matters: when supervisors socially accept unethical behavior

PurposeIt is generally believed that supervisors would deter employee unethical behavior. However, drawing from social exchange theory and the theory of moral disengagement, we posit that supervisors are more willing to tolerate employee unethical behavior through moral disengagement when the perpetrator is a high performing employee.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1, which measured employee unethical behavior in a specific group of doctors through a time-lagged survey, and Study 2, which manipulated employee unethical behavior with a diverse sample by a vignette-based experiment, provided convergent support for our hypothesized 1st-stage moderated mediation model. Hierarchical regression, bootstrapping and ANOVA are used to test our hypotheses.FindingsAlthough supervisors generally showed a low social acceptance of an employee who engaged in unethical behavior, they were more likely to socially accept the perpetrator through moral disengagement when the employee was a high rather than a low performer.Practical implicationsGiven that supervisor's tolerance of employee unethical behavior may be more dangerous than employee unethical behavior itself, organizations should set up an ethics committee to handle top managers' unethical behavior and consider morality equally important with performance in management practice.Originality/valueThe current research extends research on the interpersonal consequences of employee unethical behavior, explains how moral disengagement promotes social acceptance and identifies the moderating effect of job performance in the process.

Does voluntary assisted dying cause public stigma for the bereaved? A vignette-based experiment.

Studies in countries where assisted dying is legal show that bereaved people express concern over the potential for social disapproval and social stigma because of the manner of death. There are indications that voluntary assisted dying is judged as less acceptable if the deceased is younger. A vignette-based experiment was used to determine whether public stigma (i.e., negative emotional reactions and desired social distance) and expected grief symptoms are higher for conjugally bereaved people through voluntary assisted dying (vs. long-term illness), when the deceased is a young adult (vs. older adult). A 2 × 2 randomized factorial design was conducted with 164 Australian adults (130 women, 34 men, Mage = 37.69 years). Each participant was randomized online to read one of four vignettes and completed measures of anger, fear, prosocial emotions, desire for social distance, and expectations of grief symptomatology. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. Death at a young age (28 years) was significantly associated with stronger negative emotional reactions of fear ($\eta _p^2 = 0.04$, P = 0.048) and anger ($\eta _p^2 = 0.06$, P = 0.010). There were no differences in outcomes associated with the mode of death, nor was there an interaction between mode of death and age group. Concerns that voluntary assisted dying elicits public stigma appear unfounded. The fact that participants reported significantly higher anger and fear in response to bereaved people experiencing loss at a younger (vs. older) age, irrespective of cause of death, indicates that young people who lose their spouse might benefit from additional support.

Does Voluntary Assisted Dying Cause Public Stigma for the Bereaved? A Vignette-Based Experiment

Objective. Studies in countries where assisted dying is legal show that bereaved people express concern over the potential for social disapproval and social stigma because of the manner of death. There are indications that voluntary assisted dying is judged as less acceptable if the deceased is younger. A vignette-based experiment was used to determine whether public stigma (i.e., negative emotional reactions and desired social distance) and expected grief symptoms are higher for conjugally bereaved people through voluntary assisted dying (vs. longterm illness), when the deceased is a young adult (vs. older adult). Method. A 2 × 2 randomized factorial design was conducted with 164 Australian adults (130 women, 34 men, Mage = 37.69 years). Each participant was randomized online to read one of four vignettes and completed measures of anger, fear, prosocial emotions, desire for social distance, and expectations of grief symptomatology. Results. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. Death at a young age (28 years) was significantly associated with stronger negative emotional reactions of fear (n2p = 0.04, P = 0.048) and anger (n2p = 0.06, P = 0.010). There were no differences in outcomes associated with the mode of death, nor was there an interaction between mode of death and age group. Significance of results. Concerns that voluntary assisted dying elicits public stigma appear unfounded. The fact that participants reported significantly higher anger and fear in response to bereaved people experiencing loss at a younger (vs. older) age, irrespective of cause of death, indicates that young people who lose their spouse might benefit from additional support.

What Does "Patient-Centered" Mean? Qualitative Perspectives from Older Adults and Family Caregivers.

This study aimed to (1) examine what patient-centeredness means for older adults and family caregivers, and (2) assess circumstances underlying their preference for geriatric care. We conducted separate focus groups with older adults and family caregivers of older adults about health care experiences and expectations and conducted a vignette-based experiment to assess preference for geriatric care. Participants expressed a need for greater skill and empathy and integration of caregivers. They preferred geriatric care to usual primary care with increasing social, health, and healthcare complexity. Distinct needs of older adults should be considered in referral practices to geriatric medicine.

Higher, Faster, Further: Occupational Ethical Decision-Making under Time Pressure in Type A versus Type B Personalities

The current study aims to provide insights into personal and situational influencing factors of ethical decision-making in the work context. Previous research has indicated that individuals who are characterized by the so-called Type A personality pattern show increased levels of morality when having to decide on ethical issues. Among others, these people are marked by their great sense of time urgency and their overall preference for speed. As fast decision- making often plays a crucial role in businesses, the current study investigated in how far time pressure affects ethical decision-making of Type As in comparison to others (Type Bs). Therefore, we conducted a vignette-based experiment with a 2 × 2 between-subjects design. Participants were classified into Type A versus B personalities and had to execute ethical decision-making either with or without time constrains. Results reveal no significant differences in Type As versus Type Bs ethical decision-making regarding four different moral domains, namely moral awareness, moral judgement, moral intention, and moral behavior. Results indicate numerically stricter moral judgement and higher moral intentions of Type As (versus Bs), while failing to reach statistical significance. Additionally, our results revealed significant negative associations between time pressure and (only) one moral domain, namely moral behavior, indicating more moral behavior within participants without time pressure. These results are in accordance with several studies showing impaired ethical decision-making in individuals that are put under time constraints. Overall, results reveal no significant interaction effects. Practical implications of the results, as well as ideas for future research, are discussed.

When less is more? The contingent effect of product supply limitation in the release of new electronic products

In the market of consumer electronics, firms often limit their product supply to create a scarcity effect to entice consumers to buy their product. However, the outcome of such a strategy is not always desirable. In this study, we propose the product configuration level as a contingent variable that works with the supply level to affect the outcome of a supply limitation strategy. With a vignette-based experiment, we find that for a product with a superior configuration, consumers' purchase intention is boosted only if the supply is very limited. For a product with an inferior configuration, however, the supply limitation strategy does not work at any supply level. Therefore, the supply limitation strategy works only for a superior product configuration and at a fine-tuned supply level.

The potential influence of criminological rationales in considering childhood abuse as mitigating to sentencing

BackgroundU.S. courts currently show no coherent approach with regard to how evidence of childhood abuse is considered in sentencing. Existing state and federal caselaw suggests that courts rarely place significant consideration on evidence of childhood abuse during sentencing, but the reasons why offenders who have been subjected to childhood abuse rarely receive mitigated or alternative sentences remain unknown. Yet literature has suggested it might be because no convincing rationales have been yet developed for the court in contending that penalties of offenders who were subjected to childhood abuse should be mitigated. ObjectiveThis research examines if and how criminological theoretical perspectives linking childhood abuse and later offending (Social Control Theory, Social Learning Theory, General Strain Theory) are persuasive in arguing childhood abuse (neglect, witnessing trauma, sexual abuse, physical abuse) as mitigating to criminal sentencing. ParticipantsA national sample of U.S. adults (N = 521). MethodsA multi-factorial, vignette-based experiment was conducted, utilizing OLS and mediation analyses. ResultsEvidence on childhood abuse, and particularly sexual abuse, reduced support for incapacitation (B = -0.13, p ≤ 0.05) and increased support for rehabilitation (B = 0.16, p ≤ 0.01). Social Control Theory was particularly persuasive in arguing childhood abuse as mitigating to prison time and in relation to support for rehabilitative sentencing (mediated by beliefs regarding what the theory conveys about future dangerousness and reduced responsibility). ConclusionsCriminological theories appear to be persuasive rationales for arguing childhood abuse as mitigating to sentencing contexts involving incapacitation and rehabilitation. Implications for sentencing guidelines and systems are discussed.

Unemployment, Employability and COVID19: How the Global Socioeconomic Shock Challenged Negative Perceptions Toward the Less Fortunate in the Australian Context.

Unemployed benefit recipients are stigmatized and generally perceived negatively in terms of their personality characteristics and employability. The COVID19 economic shock led to rapid public policy responses across the globe to lessen the impact of mass unemployment, potentially shifting community perceptions of individuals who are out of work and rely on government income support. We used a repeated cross-sections design to study change in stigma tied to unemployment and benefit receipt in a pre-existing pre-COVID19 sample (n = 260) and a sample collected during COVID19 pandemic (n = 670) by using a vignette-based experiment. Participants rated attributes of characters who were described as being employed, working poor, unemployed or receiving unemployment benefits. The results show that compared to employed characters, unemployed characters were rated substantially less favorably at both time points on their employability and personality traits. The difference in perceptions of the employed and unemployed was, however, attenuated during COVID19 with benefit recipients perceived as more employable and more Conscientious than pre-pandemic. These results add to knowledge about the determinants of welfare stigma highlighting the impact of the global economic and health crisis on perception of others.

What Makes Managers Insource their Production? A Behavioral Experiment

Insourcing as a means to countermand former outsourcing decisions is becoming a widespread practice nowadays, particularly in high-tech manufacturing industries. Researchers have focused on the underlying Operations & Supply Chain Management (OSCM) performance drivers (e.g., lead times, control costs, or responsiveness), while the behavioral aspects underlying insourcing decisions remain less empirically explored. We derive a model grounded in the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to study the effects of managers’ internal and external drivers as well as their interaction on insourcing intentions and behavior. We test our hypotheses in a vignette-based experiment among 145 managers. We find support for the positive effects of attitude and mimetic pressure on insourcing intentions and several interaction effects, both on insourcing intentions and behavior. Our contextualization of motivational drivers provides new empirical insights into the behavioral aspects of insourcing decision making and suggests a theoretical integration between TPB and Institutional Theory in explaining individual decision making. As part of our results, we provide evidence of a unique boundary condition to TPB in the insourcing context, which allows deriving interesting avenues for future inquiry and recommendations for managers considering insourcing.

Can we have it all? Sustainability trade-offs and cross-insurance mechanisms in supply chains

PurposeThe study investigates the interaction of sustainability dimensions in supply chains. Along with the analysis of sustainability trade-offs (i.e. prioritizing one dimension to the sacrifice of others), we develop and test the concept of cross-insurance mechanism (i.e. meeting of one sustainability goal possibly attenuating the effects of poor performance in another).Design/methodology/approachThrough the analysis of a 20-variation vignette-based experiment, we evaluate the effects of these issues on the corporate credibility (expertise and trustworthiness) of four tiers of a typical food supply chain: pesticide producers, farmers, companies from the food industry and retail chains.FindingsResults suggest that both sustainability trade-offs and cross-insurance mechanisms have different impacts across the chain. While pesticide producers (first tier) and retail chains (fourth tier) seem to respond better to a social trade-off, the social cross-insurance mechanism has shown to be particularly beneficial to companies from the food industry (third tier). Farmers (second tier), in turn, seem to be more sensitive to the economic cross-insurance mechanism.Originality/valueAlong with adding to the study of sustainability trade-offs in supply chain contexts, results suggest that the efficiency of the insurance mechanism is not conditional on the alignment among sustainability dimensions (i.e. social responsibility attenuating social irresponsibility). In this sense, empirical evidences support the development of the cross-insurance mechanism as an original concept.

The impact of sexism on leadership in female-male climbing dyads

We investigated how sexism affected leadership in mixed-gender alpine climbing-dyads. We asked whether benevolent sexism would impair, and hostile sexism would increase (as a form of resistance) women’s leadership; and whether benevolent sexism would increase men’s leadership (as a form of paternalism). A correlational study assessed reported leading behaviour of alpine climbers. Then a vignette-based experiment presented climbers with cross-gender targets, of which three were sexist (non-feminist), and one feminist (non-sexist), and assessed leading intentions depending on targets’ and participants’ gender attitudes. Findings showed that women endorsing benevolent sexism indicated lower leading intentions with targets expressing benevolent sexism (i.e., benevolent and ambivalent men) as compared to hostile sexist men. Moreover, women’s benevolent sexism negatively affected their leading intentions with men endorsing the same gender ideology. Unexpectedly, women with low endorsement of hostile sexism reported higher leading intentions with a hostile sexist man than an ambivalent one, and with an ambivalent than a benevolent man. Conversely, men intended to lead more with female targets who expressed benevolent sexism, accommodating these women’s expectations. Further, men intended to lead more with ambivalent women, than with women deviating from gender stereotypes (i.e., feminist women, or hostile sexist women – who lack expected benevolence based on gender stereotypes). We conclude that benevolent sexism likely reinforces traditional gender roles in a leadership context when men face women who fit the gender stereotype; and when women are benevolently sexist, themselves. Moreover, low hostile sexist women confront men’s hostility with higher leading intentions, as a form of resistance.

Anticoagulation in thrombocytopenic patients with hematological malignancy: A multinational clinical vignette-based experiment

BackgroundThrombocytopenia in cancer patients with an indication for anticoagulation poses a unique clinical challenge. There are guidelines for the setting of venous thromboembolism but not atrial fibrillation (AF). Evidence is lacking and current practice is unclear. ObjectiveTo identify patient and physician characteristics associated with anticoagulation management in hematological malignancy and thrombocytopenia. MethodsA clinical vignette-based experiment was designed. Eleven hematologists were interviewed, identifying 5 relevant variable categories with 2–5 options each. Thirty hypothetical vignettes were generated. Each physician received 5 vignettes and selected a management strategy (hold anticoagulation; no change; transfuse platelets; modify type/dose). The survey was distributed to hematologists and thrombosis specialists in 3 countries. Poisson regression models with cluster robust variance estimates were used to calculate relative risks for using one management option over the other, for each variable in comparison to a reference variable. Results168 physicians answered 774 cases and reported continuing anticoagulation for venous thromboembolism or AF in 607 (78%) cases, usually with dose reduction or platelet transfusion support. Overall, management was affected by platelet count, anticoagulation indication, time since indication, type of hematological disease and treatment, and prior major bleeding, as well as physician demographics and practice setting. The CHA2DS2-VASc score and time since AF diagnosis affected anticoagulation management in AF. ConclusionThis study indicates what the widely accepted management strategies are. These strategies, and possibly others, should be assessed prospectively to ascertain effectiveness. The decision process is intricate and compatible with current venous thromboembolism guidelines.

Gritty Leaders Promoting Employees’ Thriving at Work

Four studies (a vignette-based experiment conducted in Portugal and Brazil, a two-wave multisource field study in Portugal, a three-wave field study in the United States, and a multisource field study in Portugal), in which conscientiousness, a “rival” of grit, was controlled for, provide theoretical and empirical evidence for a model testing what (e.g., grit in leaders), why (e.g., employee self-attributed grit), and when (e.g., leader support) grit supports thriving at work. First, gritty employees are more likely to thrive. Second, conveyed leader grit (i.e., grit as perceived by employees) predicts employee grit. Third, conveyed leader grit and leader self-attributed grit are conceptually different, and although the two relate positively with employee self-attributed grit, the former is a better predictor of employee self-attributed grit. Fourth, leader support operates as a boundary condition, in that the indirect association of conveyed leader grit with employee thriving is stronger when the leader is perceived as supportive. Our research also indicates that the concept of grit is more textured than habitually considered and that more attention must be paid to the boundary conditions of its development and impact.

An experimental test of green management information system effects on carrier selection: weigh station and tollbooth bypass technology adoption

In a highly competitive price-driven industry, carriers are continuously searching for opportunities to differentiate their offerings, minimize operational costs, and appeal to shippers. At the same time, environmental sustainability has evolved from being trendy jargon into a requirement for competitive supply chain management. It is at the intersection of these two modern topics that the current study identifies a new carrier selection attribute based on a specialized type of green management information system. We apply social exchange theory to hypothesize carrier price and green technology adoption effects on shipper purchase intent. The hypothesized direct and interaction effects are tested by way of a vignette-based experiment, with a sample of full-time working professionals. The supported hypotheses collectively suggest that the adoption of weigh station and tollbooth bypass technology, as a type of environmentally sustainable information system, positively affects transportation carrier selection and attenuates the negative effect of a carrier’s price on shippers’ purchase intentions. These research findings offer unique theoretical, practical, and policy implications surrounding the trucking carrier selection decision.

Isolating red flags to enhance diagnosis (I-RED): An experimental vignette study.

To investigate effects of a cognitive intervention based on isolation of red flags (I-RED) on diagnostic accuracy of 'do-not-miss diagnoses.' A 2×2 randomized case vignette-based experiment with manipulation of I-RED strategy between subjects and case complexity within subjects. Two university-based residency programs. One-hundred and nine pediatric residents from all levels of training. Participants were randomly assigned to the I-RED vs. control group, and within each group, they were further randomized to the order in which they saw simple and complex cases. The I-RED strategy involved an instruction to look for a constellation of symptoms, signs, clinical data or circumstances that should heighten suspicion for a serious condition. Primary outcome was diagnostic accuracy, scored as 1 if any of the three differentials given by participants included the correct diagnosis, and 0 if not. We analyzed effects of I-RED strategy on diagnostic accuracy using logistic regression. I-RED strategy did not yield statistically higher diagnostic accuracy compared to controls (62 vs. 48%, respectively; odd ratio=2.07 [95% confidence interval, 0.78-5.5], P=0.14) although participants reported higher decision confidence compared to controls (7.00 vs. 5.77 on a scale of 1 to 10, P<0.02) in simple but not complex cases. I-RED strategy significantly shortened time to decision (460 vs. 657s, P<0.001) and increased the number of red flags generated (3.04 vs. 2.09, P<0.001). A cognitive strategy of prompting red flag isolation prior to differential diagnosis did not improve diagnostic accuracy of 'do-not-miss diagnoses.' Given the paucity of evidence-based solutions to reduce diagnostic error and the intervention's potential effect on confidence, findings warrant additional exploration.