Purpose The exponential growth of organised retail has led to competition among mall retailers with the use of promotions to increase traffic to the stores. The footfall in the malls is dependent on the sales generated by various retail stores located in the malls. The current research analyses the role of promotions used by the retailers located in Indian malls in improving consumers’ commitment towards the mall. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of culture, personality traits like value consciousness, price consciousness and coupon proneness, and promotions used by retailers in malls on consumers’ commitment towards the malls. Design/methodology/approach Eight malls from six cities were selected by popularity and footfall. Mall-intercept technique along with systematic sampling was used to collect data from 453 mall shoppers using a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Findings Retailer promotions were categorised under discounts, promotional offers and loyalty cards. The findings suggest that cultural values of long-term orientation and masculinity have an impact on consumers’ perceptions towards discounts, promotional offers and loyalty programmes. Different promotional strategies had varied responses from consumers. Practical implications Mall retailers can use the findings to design promotions according to the cultural values of masculinity and long-term orientation. Loyalty programmes can symbolise status and long-term relationship with retailer. Commitment towards retailers and consequently malls could be enhanced through discounts and promotional offers. Different promotional strategies can be used to target price-conscious consumers and increase footfall in the stores. The linkages between cultural dimensions and promotional techniques would be helpful in targeting different consumer groups by designing promotions which are in line with cultural values. Originality/value The research extends the existing literature on mall retailing by analysing the importance of cultural dimensions on sales promotions strategies used by retailers in malls. The study establishes that perceptions towards retailer promotions differ across cultures. Different promotions offered by retailers generate varied response from consumers across different cultures which would influence their commitment towards malls.

Purpose This paper aims to explore franchisor–franchisee relationships in the context of plural forms. Plural forms implies the co-existence of franchised and non-franchised outlets of a given company. More specifically, the paper examines the impact of franchisors’ leadership styles on franchisees’ relationship commitment when the company franchised outlets co-exist with independent non-franchised outlets. Specifically, this study operationalize the plural forms phenomenon in franchising, using multi-channel complexity as a moderator. The mediating role of relational capital is also examined. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 254 franchisees. The hypothesized model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings The results indicate that all three – participative, supportive and directive leadership styles of franchisors increase relationship commitment. In a high channel complexity context, a supportive leadership style is the most effective, whereas, in a low channel complexity context, a participative style is the most effective. Relational capital also partially mediated the relationships between leadership styles and relationship commitment. Practical implications Franchisors should follow a participative leadership style when channel complexity is low. However, as they add new channels and the channel complexity increases, franchisors should shift toward a supportive leadership style to maintain existing franchisees’ commitment. In current environments, managers should avoid using directive leadership in favor of the other two leadership styles. Originality/value The present study is the first to examine the influence of channel leadership style on relationship commitment in an environment of multiple channel complexity.

The present work empirically assesses the effect of the rigor–relevance debate on the relevance of research in marketing across various eras. The paper also ranks different types of relevance according to the importance given by managers. Finally, the current research informs if the top marketing journals are focusing on the relevant relevance category in the modern era. Fifty-seven articles in three leading marketing journals were analyzed for the period 1936–2015. Content analysis and n-way analysis of variance were used to measure the magnitude of managerial relevance in these papers. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to rank the relative importance of different types of relevance. The results support that the relevance across eras changed according to the direction of the ongoing debate on rigor–relevance. Findings indicate that significant gaps exist between the relevance expected by managers and those provided by the journals. The managers prefer “forecasts,” which is instrumental relevance; however, the leading marketing journals focus majorly on conceptual relevance. Out of the eight types of managerial relevance identified, “forecasts” was ranked the highest by managers, followed by “rhetoric devices” and “uncovering causal relationships.” Further, the three leading marketing journals differentiate themselves by focusing on different types of relevance. The results and implications provided are particularly useful for academicians, editors, academic administrators.

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