Fachartikel
Impact of Direct Marketing Activities on Company Reputation Trans...

Impact of Direct Marketing Activities on Company Reputation Transfer Success: Empirical Evidence from Five Different Cultures

Extending previous research on commitment and trust, we challenge the cultural impact on the organization’s reputation and, particularly, reputation transfer to new business fields. A theory-based model enables the testing of hypotheses related to culture-specific differences between B-to-B customers in Australia, Finland, Germany, Spain and Russia. The empirical part of the article draws on an application example of selling pharmaceutical products to hospitals. Focusing on the impact of customer satisfaction, direct marketing activities and word-of-mouth effects, open-minded and honest communication turns out to be of varying importance for reputation transfer.