Commitment in channel relationships is modeled as a function of (1) each party's perception of the other party's commitment, (2) self-reported and perceived pledges (idiosyncratic investments and contractual terms) made by each party, and (3) other factors such as communication level, reputation, and relationship history. A dyadic model represented by a simultaneous equation system is estimated with data from 378 pairs of manufacturers and industrial distributors. The results indicate that one type of pledge, idiosyncratic investments, has a strong effect on the commitment of both parties to the relationship. In addition, each party's commitment is affected by the perceived commitment of the other party. Finally, idiosyncratic investments signal commitment, affecting each party's perceptions of the other party's commitment.

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the question of how to build stable, long-term relationships between manufacturers and members of conventional channels. This descriptive field study concerns a basic requirement for building long-term relationships, which is the expectation by a marketing intermediary that the relationship will last. Hypotheses about the continuity of relationships are developed from the literature on social exchange, bargaining, and negotiation. These hypotheses are framed as a simultaneous equation system, which is estimated via three-stage least squares on a sample of 690 relationships (dyads) involving manufacturers and their independent sales agents (manufacturers' representatives). Results substantially support the model, highlighting the importance of interpersonal relationships in insuring the continuity of the dyad.

The concept of customer orientation in salespeople is defined, a scale is developed to measure the degree to which salespeople engage in customer-oriented selling, and the properties of the scale are reported. A test of the nomological validity indicates the use of customer-oriented selling is related to the ability of the salespeople to help their customers and the quality of the customer-salesperson relationship.

A 16-item scale is developed to measure the degree to which salespeople practice adaptive selling—the degree to which they alter their sales presentation across and during customer interactions in response to the perceived nature of the sales situation. This paper-and-pencil scale assesses self-reports of five facets of adaptive selling: (1) recognition that different sales approaches are needed for different customers, (2) confidence in ability to use a variety of approaches, (3) confidence in ability to alter approach during an interaction, (4) collection of information to facilitate adaptation, and (5) actual use of different approaches. The reliability of the scale is .85. Support for the nomological validity of the scale is found by failure to disconfirm relationships with an antecedent (intrinsic motivation), several general personality measures of interpersonal flexibility (self-monitoring, empathy, locus of control, and androgyny), and a consequence (self-reported performance).

This paper suggests that a variety of individual, job-related, and organizational factors influence whether employees reach career plateaus. The importance of examining causes of career plateaus is discussed in terms of managing career development more effectively and in terms of conducting further research in the area.

The relationships between 24 print ad characteristics and recall, readership, and inquiry-generation measures of effectiveness are examined for 1160 industrial ads. Both recall and readership are strongly related to format and content characteristics of industrial ads. The relationship between inquiry-generation and ad characteristics is significant but weaker. Some characteristics, such as ad size and position in the magazine, are consistently related to effectiveness across product categories and effectiveness measures. The effects of other characteristics, such as the use of four colors and attention-getting techniques, are specific to the product category and effectiveness measure. In addition to these substantive findings, methodological issues in model development and testing are presented.

The authors propose that adaptive selling is influenced by salespeople's knowledge of customer types and sales strategies as well as their motivation to alter the direction of their behavior. Pertinent research in psychology and personal selling is reviewed and specific propositions relating to knowledge, motivation, and adaptive behavior are advanced. On the basis of these propositions, suggestions are made for selecting, training, managing, and compensating salespeople.

Reports of firms' behaviors with regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR) are often contrary to their stated standards of social responsibility. This research examines the effects of communication strategies a firm can use to mitigate the impact of these inconsistencies on consumer perceptions of corporate hypocrisy and subsequent beliefs about the firm's social responsibility and attitudes toward the firm. Study 1 indicates that a proactive communication strategy (when the firm's CSR statements precede conflicting observed behavior) leads to higher levels of perceived hypocrisy than a reactive strategy (when the firm's CSR statements follow observed behavior). The inconsistent information in both scenarios increases perceptions of hypocrisy, such that CSR statements can actually be counterproductive. Study 1 also reveals how perceived hypocrisy damages consumers' attitudes toward firms by negatively affecting CSR beliefs and provides evidence for the mediating role of hypocrisy during information processing. Study 2 finds that varying CSR policy statement abstractness acts to reduce the hidden risk of proactive communication strategies and can improve the effectiveness of a reactive strategy. Study 3 reveals that an inoculation communication strategy reduces perceived hypocrisy and minimizes its negative consequences, regardless of whether the CSR strategy is proactive or reactive.

Electronic agents have the capacity to help consumers discover new products and generate demand for unfamiliar products. This article explores how consumers respond to recommendations of unfamiliar products made by electronic agents. Two studies using simulated music shopping agents show that (1) additional recommendations of familiar products serve as a context in which unfamiliar recommendations are evaluated; (2) when the presentation of the recommendations makes unfamiliar and familiar products appear similar, evaluative assimilation results; and (3) when additional information about unfamiliar products is given, consumers discriminate them from the familiar products, which produces evaluative contrast. These results establish that information that leads to higher evaluations when context is absent can lead to contrast and lower evaluations in the presence of attractive contextual recommendations.