If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This paper aims to highlight the importance of examining sub-cultural attitudes when assessing the animosity of individuals from one nation toward the products of other nations. Design/methodology/approach -The context chosen, Arab and Jewish Israelis' attitudes toward the UK and Italy, provides a strong setting to test the influence of animosity on product judgments and willingness to purchase products from these nations. Attitudes toward British and Italian products were collected in shopping malls and community centers in middle class neighborhoods in Northern Israel. A total of 112 Arab Israeli and 111 Jewish Israeli consumers were sampled. Findings -Both animosity and consumer ethnocentrism led to a decreased willingness to purchase a nation's products. Arab Israelis felt more animosity toward the UK than Jewish Israelis, which negatively impacted their product judgments of British products. Originality/value -Previous research on the impact of animosity on foreign products has generally looked at nations as a whole, examined contexts where animosity was fairly distant (e.g. Chinese animosity toward Japan from the second world war), and found that animosity does not affect product judgments. The paper examines a more immediate context (current attitudes among Arab and Jewish Israelis), highlights the importance of considering subcultures when studying animosity, and finds that animosity can and does affect the product judgments of foreign products when felt animosity is strong.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether it is beneficial for service providers, such as hotels and restaurants, to respond to online negative reviews, and (a) whether company reputation is moderated by the number of negative versus positive reviews and (b) whether the underlying issue is attributed to controllable versus uncontrollable factors. To test the hypotheses, a 2 × 2 × 2 quasi-experimental design was utilized. Respondents were asked to imagine that they were planning a trip to New York City, were searching online for a hotel near Times Square, and were provided with several reviews. The results indicate, in general, that company reputation is adversely affected as the number of negative to positive reviews becomes greater. When service failures pertain to controllable factors, management responses can mitigate the adverse effects of negative reviews. When service failures stem from uncontrollable factors, company reputation is not adversely affected, and thus a response from management might not be necessary. A follow-up study examined whether the type of response matters. Findings revealed that an apology with assurance versus an apology with correction action is equally effective.

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Children increasingly utilize the Internet as a primary medium, a source of consumer information, and an important source of entertainment. This article investigates the influence of Web site design on children's information processing performance. A model is advanced that integrates theories from a variety of disciplines, including developmental psychology, human computer interaction (HCI), and consumer behavior. This study found that age moderates the relationship between Web site design and spatial (search) and learning (recall) performance. Younger children, between the ages of 7 and 9, recalled more content when using a map (as compared to a content list) and when learning cues were employed. Older children, between the ages of 10 and 12, performed equally as well with either a map or a content list, and with or without learning cues. Implications for business, education, and public policy are discussed and guidelines are provided for designing more child-friendly Web sites.

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