This study applied generalizability theory to investigate the contributions of persons, items, sections, and language backgrounds to the score dependability of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). I replicated and extended Brown’s (1999) study of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), using data from two language groups who took the same form of the TOEIC: 45 156 Japanese examinees and 46 067 Korean examinees. Both classical reliability analyses and generalizability analyses found the TOEIC scores of the examinees in question to be highly reliable/generalizable. The items within a section varied greatly in difficulty. An examinee who scored relatively high in one section was likely to score high in the other section. The findings regarding the effect of language backgrounds on TOEIC score dependability were inconclusive, which suggests directions for future research. TOEIC test developers might explore design alternatives with fewer items per section.

Ad messages in cause-related marketing (CRM) motivate consumers' anticipatory guilt if they do not do good things (i.e., do not purchase cause-related products). According to cognitive dissonance theory, consumers tend to purchase cause-related products in order to reduce anticipatory guilt for maintaining cognitive consistency. We further hypothesize that in CRM ads, the positive effect of product hedonism on anticipatory guilt is moderated by country-of-origin (COO) image. When consumers perceive greater hedonic COO image from the ad, they are more likely to purchase cause-related products through anticipatory guilt due to product hedonism. 182 subjects were randomly assigned to 2 (product hedonism: low vs. high) × 2 (COO image: low hedonic vs. high hedonic) between-subjects design. The results confirm our moderated mediation model. In addition, we find that the moderating effect of COO image does not lead to consumers' negative responses toward CRM because of too strong anticipatory guilt. Thus, this research can suggest effective CRM strategies for firms.

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