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Social media provide an unparalleled platform for consumers to publicize their personal evaluations of purchased products and thus facilitate word-of-mouth communication. This paper examines relationships between consumer posting behavior and marketing variables—such as product price and quality—and explores how these relationships evolve as the Internet and consumer review websites attract more universal acceptance. Based on automobile-model data from several leading online consumer review sources that were collected in 2001 and 2008, this study demonstrates that the relationships between marketing variables and consumer online-posting behavior are different at the early and mature stages of Internet usage. For instance, in the early stage of consumer Internet usage, price is negatively correlated with the propensity to post a review. As consumer Internet usage becomes prevalent, however, the relationship between price and the number of online consumer reviews shifts to a U-shape. In contrast, in the early years, price has a U-shaped relationship with overall consumer rating, but this correlation between price and overall rating becomes less significant in the later period. Such differences at the two different stages of Internet usage can be driven by different groups of consumers with different motivations for online review posting.

Pathogenic microorganisms and insects affecting plant health are a major and chronic threat to food production and the ecosystem worldwide. As agricultural production has intensified over the years, the use of agrochemicals has in turn increased. However, this extensive usage has had several detrimental effects, with a pervasive environmental impact and the emergence of pathogen resistance. In addition, there is an increasing tendency among consumers to give preference to pesticide-free food products. Biological control, through the employment of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), is therefore considered a possible route to the reduction, even the elimination, of the use of agrochemicals. PGPR exert their beneficial influence by a multitude of mechanisms, often involving antibiotics and proteins, to defend the host plant against pathogens. To date, these key metabolites have been uncovered only by systematic investigation or by serendipity; their discovery has nevertheless been propelled by the genomic revolution of recent years, as increasing numbers of genomic studies have been integrated into this field, facilitating a holistic view of this topic and the rapid identification of ecologically important metabolites. This review surveys the highlights and advances of genome-driven compound and protein discovery in the field of bacterial PGPR strains, and aims to advocate for the benefits of this strategy.

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This paper examines the effect of independent director reputation incentives on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Using an unbalanced panel of 3765 Chinese-listed firms between 2009 and 2014, this study suggests that independent director reputation incentives improve CSR. Furthermore, it is found that this effect is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) than in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In addition, our results also show that the effect of independent director reputation incentives on CSR is moderated by firm size, and this effect is much stronger in relatively larger firms. Together, these results suggest that reputation is an effective mechanism that can motivate independent directors to fulfill their role of monitoring and advising CSR, especially in non-SOEs and relatively larger firms. We add new insights to the research on the topics of independent director system, protection of the stakeholders’ interests, and CSR enhancement.