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PurposeAdvances in information technology (IT) and the globalization of business are both realities and opportunities of the twenty‐first century. This article aims to examine the role of information technology in the globalization of business buying behavior.Design/methodology/approachLiterature and theory are used to develop a conceptual model of adoption of information technology (IT) and globalization of business buying behavior. Firm‐level and global moderating factors are also examined.FindingsIT adoption includes IT adoption by buyer and by seller and the compatibility of both IT systems. Globalizations of buying behavior is moderated by firm‐level factors like perceived risk, digitizability and by task and global moderating factors like availability of alternative suppliers in buyer country, cultural distance and the political stability in the supplier country.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper provides a number of propositions that can be tested empirically, and also extensions for training and skills for business buyers.Practical implicationsThe correct choice of IT systems for compatibility with buyers and sellers can mitigate the negative effects of moderating factors.Originality/valueThe paper sets out the impact of IT adoption by buyer and seller firms and its impact on globalization of business buying behavior in the twenty‐first century.

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the nature of service failures and their impact on customer responses and designing cost‐effective recovery strategies have been recognized as important issues by both service researchers and practitioners. We first propose a conceptual framework of service failure and recovery strategies. We then transform it into a mathematical model to assist managers in deciding on appropriate resource allocations for outcome and process recovery strategies based on customer risk profiles and the firm's cost structures. Based on this mathematical model we derive optimal recovery strategies, conduct sensitivity analyses of the optimal solutions for different model parameters, and illustrate them through numerical examples. We conclude with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future research.

ABSTRACTConsumers and companies are increasingly concerned about fake reviews posted online. To make appropriate managerial decisions about online reviews, it is crucial to understand what drives consumer trust in online reviews. Research examining the linkage between online reviews and trust is sporadic and lacks a comprehensive framework. To address this gap, this research investigates the individual and joint impact of three review attributes—valence, rationality, and source—on the benevolence, ability, and integrity dimensions of trustworthiness of the reviewer, which further determines trust in online reviews. Using behavioral experiments, the study finds that positive reviews, factual reviews, and reviews appearing on social networks lead to perceptions of greater benevolence, ability, and integrity than negative reviews, emotional reviews, and reviews appearing on retailer sites, respectively. In addition, review rationality and review source moderate the link between review valence and the dimensions of reviewer trustworthiness: the effect of valence is stronger for emotional reviews than for factual reviews and for retailer sites than for social networks. Furthermore, the study analyzes data from the United States and China to examine generalizability and cultural nuances of the proposed relationships. This study provides important insights into consumer trust in online reviews and offers guidelines for decision making in communication strategy, system design, and operations by manufacturers, retailers, service providers, and online platforms to more effectively manage online reviews.

This article focuses on the locus of recovery (LOR) when failures occur in coproduced services. LOR refers to who contributes to the recovery. Based on the LOR effort, recovery can be classified into three types: firm recovery, joint recovery, and customer recovery. The authors develop a conceptual framework to examine the antecedents, consequences, and moderators of LOR and test the framework using three experiments. They find that the positive effect of customers' self-efficacy on their expectancy to participate in recovery is stronger when they blame themselves for the failure than when they blame the service provider. Joint recovery is most effective in generating favorable service outcomes of satisfaction with recovery and intention for future coproduction. Furthermore, recovery urgency strengthens the effect of LOR; however, when a customer's preferred recovery strategy is offered, such matching offsets the impact of recovery urgency. Our findings suggest several managerial implications for devising recovery strategies for service failures. Although having customers do the recovery may appear to be cost-effective, when customers are under time pressure, pushing them toward customer recovery against their preferences is likely to backfire. If a firm's only available option is customer recovery, they should consider increasing customers' sense of autonomy under resource constraints by aligning available recovery options with customer preferences. In contrast, joint recovery can be a win-win strategy—the customer is satisfied and the firm uses only moderate resources. It is also a more robust strategy that works particularly well under resource constraints and regardless of preference matching.

Prior empirical evidence on the role of customer participation (CP) on service outcomes is limited and inconsistent. The authors add new insights by investigating the boundary conditions of the CP-service outcome link. Using two experiments, the article examines the moderating effect of three CP readiness factors: ability, perceived benefits of participation, and role identification. The results show that when CP readiness is high, increasing CP enhances service outcomes including customer satisfaction and perceived service quality; however, when CP readiness is low, the effect of CP on service outcomes tapers off or becomes negative. The results highlight the contingent nature of CP's effect, demonstrate that CP could indeed be a double-edged sword, and provide managerial guidelines to enhance CP's benefits through appropriate targeting and service design.

This study presents the effect of aging on microstructure, texture, mechanical and ballistic properties of AA-7017 aluminium alloy. AA-7017 alloy is subjected to three different aging namely under-aging, peak-aging and over-aging. Significant difference is observed in the mechanical properties after aging. The alloy exhibits maximum strength and hardness in the peak-aged condition. From texture measurements, it is noticed that the overall intensity of orientation distribution function increases from under-aged to peak-aged condition. The AA-7017 aged plates are impacted with 7.62 mm steel core projectiles at 820±10 m/s to evaluate the ballistic performance. It is noticed that AA-7017 alloy displays best ballistic resistance in peak-aged condition. Distorted material flow lines and adiabatic shear band induced cracking is detected in post ballistic microstructure. The ballistic performance of AA-7017 alloy is correlated with the variations in the microstructure and mechanical properties with aging