Resumo em Inglês:

Over the last few decades, several studies have been conducted to examine the complex relationships between team diversity and individual and organizational outcomes. Although, in theory, team diversity can foster positive organizational synergies by increasing the variance of perspectives and approaches to work different members can bring, the same idiosyncratic characteristics can also engender significant difficulties resulting from problems in coordination, communication and conflict. This study used a sample of 44 work groups to examine the influence of five types of diversity on team outcomes and the mediating role of task and relational conflict on this relationship. A survey of 279 team members and interviews with the 44 team managers were used to examine these relationships. Findings suggest that different forms of diversity impact task conflict in different ways, which in turn is negatively associated with job satisfaction and team performance. Results further show that diversity is unrelated to relational conflict; however, this type of conflict seems to hinder both job satisfaction and team performance. Overall, these patterns suggest a complex link between team diversity and how work groups function.

Resumo em Inglês:

This study explores educational technology and management education by analyzing fidelity in game-based management education interventions. A sample of 31 MBA students was selected to help answer the research question: To what extent do MBA students tend to recognize specific game-based academic experiences, in terms of fidelity, as relevant to their managerial performance? Two distinct game-based interventions (BG1 and BG2) with key differences in fidelity levels were explored: BG1 presented higher physical and functional fidelity levels and lower psychological fidelity levels. Hypotheses were tested with data from the participants, collected shortly after their experiences, related to the overall perceived quality of game-based interventions. The findings reveal a higher overall perception of quality towards BG1: (a) better for testing strategies, (b) offering better business and market models, (c) based on a pace that better stimulates learning, and (d) presenting a fidelity level that better supports real world performance. This study fosters the conclusion that MBA students tend to recognize, to a large extent, that specific game-based academic experiences are relevant and meaningful to their managerial development, mostly with heightened fidelity levels of adopted artifacts. Agents must be ready and motivated to explore the new, to try and err, and to learn collaboratively in order to perform.

Resumo em Inglês:

Brands may be perceived as possessing a set of distinct traits or characteristics, i.e., a personality, similar to a person. Thus, the personality of a brand is relevant as a source of differentiation in an increasingly competitive market environment. In this study, the authors explore the dimensions of brand personality proposed by J. Aaker (1997), seeking to discover the particular evaluation dimensions of the Brazilian context. The study was conducted in exploratory stages, beginning with a preparatory stage that was carried out by professionals and academics from the fields of communication and marketing. This was followed by stages of conclusive research using an online survey with a sample of 1,302 Brazilian consumers. Two sub-samples were extracted: one calibration sample for exploratory factor analysis and a validation sample to perform confirmatory factor analysis in order to verify the convergent and discriminant validities of the final scale. Five dimensions of brand personality in Brazil were detected: credibility, joy, audacity, sophistication and sensitivity. These dimensions showed some differences in comparison with similar studies that had been carried out in other countries. The study led to a scale of 28 items for measuring brand personality and made it possible to compare competing brands in terms of brand personality

Resumo em Inglês:

This article analyzes the relationship between market sentiment and future stock rates of return. We used a methodology based on principal component analysis to create a sentiment index for the Brazilian market with data from 1999 to 2008. The sample consisted of companies listed on BM&F BOVESPA which were grouped into quintiles, each representing a portfolio, according to the magnitude of the following characteristics: market value, total annualized risk and listing time on BM&F BOVESPA. Next, we calculated the average return of each portfolio for every quarter. The data for the first and last quintiles were analyzed via two-factor ANOVA, using sentiment index of the previous period (positive or negative) as the main factor and each characteristic as controlling factors. Finally, the sentiment index was included in a panel data pricing model. The results indicate a significant and negative relationship between the market sentiment index and the future rates of return. These findings suggest the existence of a reversion pattern in stock returns, meaning that after a positive sentiment period, the impact on subsequent stock returns is negative, and vice-versa.

Resumo em Inglês:

It is not easy to study socially marginalized groups such as gays, ethnic minorities, and others. This is, however, an extremely relevant topic in the consumer behavior area since the status of members of a modern consumer society is largely denied to stigmatized social groups (Barbosa, 2006). The objective of this work is to shed light on how gay men in Rio de Janeiro use the discourse associated with their possessions to build and maintain the symbolic and hierarchical boundaries between the gay and heterosexual worlds, as well as to investigate the role consumption plays in this boundary setting. An ethnographic observation of a group of gay men in Rio de Janeiro was conducted, along with 20 semi-structured interviews with openly gay men between 2005 and 2008. The results suggest that: (a) the world culturally built by gays seems to be divided into a gay world and a heterosexual world, where the division between these two worlds not only happens in their minds, but also in their possessions and purchasing decisions; (b) the meaning of gay mens' places of consumption range from profane to sacred along their lives; and (c) in the gay world, the body is seen both as a cultural construction and as an asset.

Resumo em Inglês:

This paper presents an investigation into the relationship between the announcement of mergers and acquisitions, the existence of positive abnormal returns for shares of these firms, and market efficiency in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Statistically significant Standardized Abnormal Returns were present in the event announcement and the following days in Argentina and Chile and on the event day in Brazil, confirming value creation signaling. Furthermore, the significance of abnormal returns in the event window, namely in the 5 days following the event in Argentina and Chile and the absence of such in Brazil suggests a more efficient market exists in Brazil, in keeping with the semi-strong market efficiency hypothesis. The absence of semi-strong efficient market behavior could prove valuable to investors who could use a window of a few days after the event announcement to accumulate abnormal returns, provided the appropriate research into news of possible mergers or acquisitions has been made.