This study drawing concepts from the fields of sociology, organizational behavior, and marketing examines residents' perceptions of justice in relation to environmental development. Although prior research raised issues related to environmental development from the justice perspective, very little is known about how residents perceive justice related to environmental development. Therefore, our study examines residents' perceptions of justice and how those perceptions influence the relationship with the government. More specifically, the study proposes that four types of justice (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) are related with the residents' trust in the government, which predicts their intentions to support for future projects and the government. To test the proposed model, we collected data from residents of four cities in China that were going through environmental development projects. The results of the study show perceptions of distributive justice and interpersonal justice have a significant positive effect on the residents' trust in the government and the environmental development. The study also finds that trust in the government and trust in the environmental development are positively related with residents' intentions to support the government and additional environmental developments. Our finding, however, does not support that either perceptions of procedural justice or perceptions of informational justice are important in the Chinese context. Implications of the study are presented. KEYWORDS environmental justice, social exchange theory, support intention, sustainable development, trust in the government

PurposeThe study focuses on how to build long-term relationships with multi-channel agencies (MCAs) (dealers) who serve multiple manufacturers on a non-exclusive basis in a business-to-business (B2B) market. This study looks at the framework of relational benefits-commitment-long term orientation in a business-to-business context.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from MCAs of three leading companies in the food distribution business. The survey used established scales to measure the relational benefits (core, operational, social and special treatment), commitment (affective and calculative) and long-term orientation (LTO).FindingsThe findings of the study show that core, social and special treatment benefits influence calculative commitment, and operational and special treatment benefits influence affective commitment. The study also supports that calculative and affective commitment play an important role in understanding the loyalty of MCAs.Originality/valueThe research examines how relational benefits impact commitment and loyalty among MCAs and manufacturers, in a non-exclusive relationship, in the business-to-business environment. This study incorporates social exchange theory (SET), relational benefits paradigm and commitment and long-term orientation in its framework and tests it within the food distribution industry. This study is the first of its kind to examine the effects of relational benefits on MCAs behavior in a food supplier–buyer setting.

The purpose of this study is to examine four characteristics of social media content and their effects on restaurant patrons. The characteristics we examine in our study are authenticity, consensus, usefulness, and aesthetics. More specifically, the study investigates how content characteristics influence consumers’ cognition-based and affect-based attitudes toward the message, which, in turn, influence brand attitude and behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 376 respondents who had frequented restaurants on a regular basis and used social media networks for at least one year. Structural equation modeling with AMOS 22.0 was used to analyze the data. The most important content characteristic that influences both cognition-based attitude and affect-based attitude is usefulness. All three other content characteristics (authenticity, consensus, and aesthetics) are also found to have a significant impact on either cognition-based or affect-based attitudes. While both cognition-based and affect-based attitudes have a significant effect on brand attitude, the effect of affect-based attitude is fully mediated by brand attitude in influencing behavioral intentions. The mediating role of brand attitude is also examined.

This study examines local foodscapes and their dimensions, namely, eco-friendly environment, tradition, infrastructure, accessibility, and price/value, on trust in a store and local food, which in turn impacts loyalty and identified full mediating roles of trust in a store and local food in the relationship between local foodscapes and loyalty. Data were collected from visitors (tourists) who had experienced local foods over the last three months and were analyzed with SmartPLS 3.3.3. The findings show that the dimensions of price/value and eco-friendly environment influence trust in the local store, whereas the history or the tradition along with the eco-friendly environment has an impact on local food consumption—both the local store and the local food influence the level of loyalty among tourists. Implications for theory and practice are discussed within the context of local foodscapes.

PurposeHotels conducting international business are acknowledging the importance of an expatriate general manager (GM), to increase the effectiveness of their knowledge management system through the sharing of knowledge between expatriates and local employees. In the aspect of comparative leadership studies, this study attempts to compare and analyze the effects of knowledge sharing (KS) efforts, which are competencies of expatriate GMs and local GMs, on employee trust, organizational KS and employee loyalty.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from employees of 7 hotels managed by expatriate GMs among 16 franchising luxury (5-star) hotels, and from employees of 6 hotels operated by local GMs among 9 local luxury hotels located in Korea. Structural equation modeling method using SmartPLS 3.3.3 was used to analyze the data.FindingsExpatriate GM’s two-way KS influences affective trust but does not influence cognitive trust. Affective trust influences cognitive and organizational KS but does not influence employee loyalty. Cognitive trust does not influence organizational KS but influences employee loyalty. Finally, organizational KS significantly affects employee loyalty. In addition, in the analysis comparing the estimates between expatriate and local GM group, significant differences in groups were found for the impact of GM’s two-way KS on cognitive trust, for the impact of affective trust on organizational KS, for the impact of affective trust on employee loyalty and for the impact of cognitive trust on organizational KS.Practical implicationsThis study shows that knowledge management designs need to consider different effects of expatriate GMs’ and local GMs’ capabilities on employee attitudes and behavior considering cultural impacts. Expatriate GMs will greatly benefit their effort for KS by assuring employees that they are attentive to their needs, interests and problems.Originality/valueThis study not only contributes to the existing social capital theory but also provides managerial implications for human resources management in the hospitality field through a comparative study of KS efforts of expatriate and local GMs.