Perceived Firm Transparency: Scale and Model Development Jennifer Dapko University of South Florida, [email protected]
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School January 2012 Perceived Firm Transparency: Scale and Model Development Jennifer Dapko University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, Communication Commons, and the Marketing Commons Scholar Commons Citation Dapko, Jennifer, "Perceived Firm Transparency: Scale and Model Development" (2012). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4025 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Perceived Firm Transparency: Scale and Model Development by Jennifer L. Dapko A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Marketing College of Business University of South Florida Major Professor: Anand Kumar, Ph.D. Miriam Stamps, Ph.D. Sajeev Varki, Ph.D. Michael Coovert, Ph.D. Date of Approval: May 2, 2012 Keywords: transparency, consumer skepticism, disclosure, trust, purchase intention, firm reciprocity, negative information, marketing communications, marketing strategy Copyright © 2012, Jennifer L. Dapko Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my mother, who knowingly taught me the value of education, and who unknowingly taught me the value of transparency. Acknowledgments There are two individuals who made this journey possible. To my husband, thank you for sacrificing in so many ways so that I could see this through. To my Dissertation Chair, Dr. Anand Kumar, thank you for your wisdom, kindness, and responsiveness. You guided me when I needed it and let me spread my wings when I didn’t. I would also like to thank my family for encouraging me every step of the way, Dr. Paul Solomon for seeing my potential, and my Committee members for their feedback. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... i LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 When Transparency May be Especially Important ............................................................... 4 Scope of Transparency ........................................................................................................ 8 Research questions and objectives ....................................................................................... 9 Organization of Dissertation .............................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................... 11 Transparency Definitions .................................................................................................. 11 Article Selection ............................................................................................................... 13 Marketing Literature ......................................................................................................... 27 Information Technology Literature .................................................................................... 34 Political Science Literature ................................................................................................ 36 Management Literature ..................................................................................................... 38 Public Health Literature .................................................................................................... 39 Communications Literature ............................................................................................... 40 Transparency Themes Emerging from Literature: An Integrated View ............................... 44 Working Definition ........................................................................................................... 50 Constructs Related to Transparency ................................................................................... 51 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................. 59 CHAPTER 3: THEME VALIDATION AND FINAL TRANSPARENCY DEFINITION ......... 61 Theme Coding .................................................................................................................. 61 Interviews, Focus Groups, and Surveys ............................................................................. 62 Findings from Qualitative Data ......................................................................................... 66 Summary of Qualitative Research ..................................................................................... 71 Final Definition ................................................................................................................. 71 CHAPTER 4: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF TRANSPARENCY................................... 72 When are perceptions of transparency formed in the minds of consumers? ........................ 74 Disconfirmation of Expectations and Transparency Salience ............................................. 77 Systematic-Heuristic Processing ........................................................................................ 81 Attribution Theory, Persuasion Knowledge Model, and Motives ....................................... 87 Proposed Theoretical Model .............................................................................................. 88 Antecedents of Transparency ............................................................................................ 90 Consequences of Transparency ......................................................................................... 94 CHAPTER 5: SCALE DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................... 107 Study 1 ........................................................................................................................... 108 Study 2 ........................................................................................................................... 135 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................... 146 CHAPTER 6: HYPOTHESIS TESTING: METHODOLOGY, DATA ANALYSIS & RESULTS147 Study 3 ........................................................................................................................... 147 Study 4 ........................................................................................................................... 170 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................... 188 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 189 General Discussion ......................................................................................................... 189 The Meaning of Firm Transparency ................................................................................ 193 Implications of Firm Transparency .................................................................................. 194 Managerial Implications .................................................................................................. 197 Limitations ...................................................................................................................... 200 Future Research .............................................................................................................. 200 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 202 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 211 Survey for Study 1, Phases 2 and 3 .................................................................................. 212 Study 3, Supplemental Analysis ...................................................................................... 223 Study 4, Supplemental Analysis ...................................................................................... 226 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ......................................................................................................... 232 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Summary of Literature ................................................................................................ 14 Table 2: Themes Emerging from Literature ............................................................................... 48 Table 3: Constructs Similar to Transparency ............................................................................. 52 Table 4: List of Hypotheses ..................................................................................................... 105 Table 5: Study 1, Scale Items Subjected to EFA .....................................................................