International Busines Research-Research proposal

Please formulate and justify hypotheses, taking into account the Research Proposal and

Conceptual Framework content included in the 1 st appendix.

1-First, formulate a hypothesis for each relationship in the conceptual framework.

2-Second, provide a justification for only 2 hypotheses. We expect you to justify two

hypotheses: one main effect hypothesis and one moderator hypothesis.

3- Your justification should be based on at least two academic references per hypothesis,

combined with some logical reasoning from your side, followed by the formal hypothesis

itself. Please select the references from the journals listed in the 2nd appendix.

Expacted result: The phrasing of the hypotheses is correct. and The justification for the

hypotheses is convincing and clear, through the combination of the extant literature with

one’s own argumentation (synthesis takes place).

Please examine the hypotheses formulated by taking the Conceptual Framework into

consideration in the example below and the justifications prepared for two of these hypotheses.

Note that you must refer to at least two articles that support the explanation in Justification.

And remember that you have to choose these articles from the journal list in appendix 2 !!!

EXAMPLE for HYPOTHESES and JUSTIFICATION + using references

Example Conceptual Framework

Hypotheses

Main effects

H1: The actual delay is positively related to the perceived delay.

H2: The perceived delay is negatively related to customers’ satisfaction with CAP.

Justification for H2 - The relationship between perceived delay and customer satisfaction

As the perceived delay increases, customers’ affective reactions to the wait become more negative (Folkes, Koletsky, and

Graham, 1987; Katz, Larson, and Larson, 1991; Hul, Dube, and Chebat, 1998) and waits become less acceptable (Chebat,

Chebat, and Filiatrault, 1993; Antonides, Verhoef, and van Aalst, 2002). Thus, consumer satisfaction with the company

decreases. We therefore hypothesize H2.

Mediating effect

H3: The relationship between the actual delay and customers’ satisfaction with CAP is

mediated by the perceived delay.

Moderating effects

H4: The relationship between the actual delay and the perceived delay depends on whether

customers are offered a meal.

H5: The relationship between the actual delay and the perceived delay depends on whether

customers are offered access to a lounge.

Justification for H4-H5: The moderating role of time-filling strategies

Occupying customers during a delay will cause them to lose track of the passage of time (Zakay, 1989). When time is

perceived to be filled, a delay may be perceived as shorter (Antonides, Verhoef, and van Aalst, 2002; Taylor, 1994). However,

prior research into the effect of time filling activities has not conclusively established this effect. Pruyn and Smidts (1998), for

example, found that customers who watched television during a wait for a clinic appointment had increased perceived wait

time over customers who did nothing during the wait. Since time-filling strategies have been found to increase as well as

decrease the relationship between the actual delay and the perceived delay, we offer the two-sided hypotheses.

H6: The positive relationship between the actual delay and the perceived delay is weaker for customers

that were offered an apology compared to customers that were not offered an apology.

H7: The positive relationship between the actual delay and the perceived delay is stronger for

customers that are offered information updates on the delay compared to customers that are not

offered information updates on the delay.