Issue 1

Dear Friends of the Willumstad School, A key role of a university is the creation and transmission of knowledge. Our team of professors consists of both great teachers and superb scholars. Their research findings and insights inform their teaching, ensuring that students are introduced to new knowledge and ideas. Similarly, their teaching influences the sorts of topics they study and inquire about. In this inaugural issue of Business Research at Adelphi , we share four stories that draw from the recent scholarly work of our faculty members. The topics are thought-provoking and novel: from which kinds of smiles consumers prefer, to mission building at Goodwill Industries, to the power of live chat and the challenge of creating innovative infrastructure in rural India. The stories indicate the depth and variety of research at our University. I invite you to provide feedback on these stories by sending me an email at [email protected] .  Regards, Rajib Sanyal, Ph.D. Dean

Leadership Lessons from Goodwill Industries International Since its founding in 1902, Goodwill Industries International, Inc. has grown from a small nonprofit into a multibillion-dollar business enterprise. But it has stayed true to its community-based mission to gather and distribute all revenue locally. Over its 100+ years, Goodwill has also overcome highly complex leadership challenges. Research by Professor James Hazy, Ed.D. , offers important insights into Goodwill’s operations that can be used by other social enterprises seeking to scale up to a national level. Key takeaways, according to Dr. Hazy, are to create a common mission and brand identity, build a strong organizational infrastructure, foster a culture of leadership and measure results. E-Retailers Can Boost Shopping via Live Chat High-quality live chatting reduces shoppers’ hesitancy to buy products they can’t examine by touch, and also increases consumers’ shopping enjoyment and loyalty toward online retailers, say Associate Professor Yun Jung Lee, Ph.D. , and Assistant Professor Zachary Johnson, Ph.D. In fact, of the three common means of e-retailer/shopper communication they studied, it was the only one with positive results in addressing consumers’ need for touch. The key recommendation for online retailers: the sensory experience of live-chat windows could be richly enhanced for even greater effectiveness.

It’s Possible to Smile Too Big in Marketing  Are consumers more likely to purchase from a marketer with a broad smile or a slight smile? If you think big smiles are always better, think again . Fan Liu, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing, and her team showed consumers photographs of people who were either smiling broadly or just slightly and asked them who they would be more likely to purchase from. Her research revealed that consumers may perceive a person pictured with a big smile as having greater warmth but less competence than someone displaying only a slight smile, and such perceptions have real consequences for intent to buy. Marketers can use this knowledge to their strategic advantage by determining whether customers are more likely to buy from someone competent or warm, and have actors smile accordingly. Innovation Ecosystems Are Key to Bringing Technology to Remote Areas Professor and Department Chair Gita Surie, Ph.D. 's research focuses on bringing renewable energies to rural villages in India. Disseminating new technologies to such remote, off-the-grid locations requires building what’s called an innovation ecosystem —a system of numerous, interconnecting elements and players at both national and local levels. Social entrepreneurs, she says, are crucial to bringing new technologies to underserved areas such as rural villages because large firms are seldom interested in small, decentralized markets. She created a conceptual model that social entrepreneurs and others can use to help in the development and deployment of electrification and other technologies in similarly remote countries and regions.

This e-newsletter is prepared by the Office of the Dean of the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business. Visit business.adelphi.edu for more information.

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