Considerable attention has been focussed on the measurement of service quality. In fact, the 1990s has been referred to as the era of customer service. However, little empirical…
Abstract
Considerable attention has been focussed on the measurement of service quality. In fact, the 1990s has been referred to as the era of customer service. However, little empirical research has been done to demonstrate the impact of service quality on usage decisions. Product (brand or service) name familiarity is another variable that has been recognized as having a major influence on the choice of products (services). Reports the findings of an experimental study investigating the impact of service quality and name familiarity on the respondents’ attitudes and intention to use these services.
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James A.F. Stoner and Charles B. Wankel
During the 1980s, a significant management shift occurred inorganizations which generally were recognized as being globallycompetitive. More and more these organizations were…
Abstract
During the 1980s, a significant management shift occurred in organizations which generally were recognized as being globally competitive. More and more these organizations were transforming their traditional Taylor‐based management strategies into total quality management (TQM) approaches to managing. As a result, management educators were faced with the dilemma of how to teach the new TQM paradigm emerging in globally competitive companies. Presents a method of teaching total quality management concepts and suggests that viewing TQM as a new “management technology” may be useful. Describes a successfully implemented educational approach to teaching both the content and process of TQM approaches to management and applies it to Poland′s post‐communist management development challenge.
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This paper aims to use a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approach to exploring product personality. It also aims to focus on the personality dimensions of two retails…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to use a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approach to exploring product personality. It also aims to focus on the personality dimensions of two retails stores (Target and Wal‐Mart) and two athletic brands (Adidas and Nike). While personality has been investigated in marketing settings, the focus has been limited to using quantitative scales. This approach has the potential of leaving out rich details of personality not captured by the scale, thereby offering little helpful information for advertising copy writers. While qualitative approaches may lack the formal test of hypotheses, they afford rich narrative that adds important insights about the products and practical help for advertising development.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a concurrent, two‐studies design where qualitative and quantitative data are both collected and analyzed separately (concurrently or sequentially). A survey is used to measure the personality dimensions based on Aaker's five personality dimensions. In addition, various personality dimensions are explored using in‐depth, one‐to‐one interviews; grounded theory framework; and QDA software that is especially suitable for text analysis.
Findings
The findings reveal lack of convergence in personality dimensions. While full convergence is not expected due to method and sample characteristics, the findings revealed important dimensions that appeared only in either the qualitative or quantitative analysis. For example, the attributes of competence, sophistication, and ruggedness failed to emerge in the qualitative analyses.
Research limitations/ implications
Caution is advised in extrapolating the results beyond the issues investigated in the study.
Practical implications
The findings help marketers in formulating effective product design, positioning, and promotion strategies.
Originality/value
Most of the research on the subject of personality has been designed around Aaker's five dimensions of personality. There has been some variation to the instrument to capture dimensions such as nurturance, and integrity, ruggedness, and sophistication. However, there is a void in qualitative research that is oriented towards discovering (rather than testing) the dimensions of personality. This paper uses qualitative research methodology, specifically a grounded theory framework, to discover the personality of products, and to compare these outcomes with Aaker's five‐dimensional scale.
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The present chapter reviews part of the literature that focuses on dark tourism and dark consumption. The main theories were placed under the critical lens of scrutiny. With…
Abstract
The present chapter reviews part of the literature that focuses on dark tourism and dark consumption. The main theories were placed under the critical lens of scrutiny. With strongholds and weaknesses, dark tourism seems to be enframed in an ‘economic-based paradigm’, which prioritises the managerial perspective over other methods. Like Dark Tourist, the Netflix documentary assessed in this chapter, this academic perspective accepts that the tourist's experience is the only valid source of information to understand the phenomenon. Rather, we hold the thesis that far from being a local trend, dark tourism evinces a morbid drive which not only emerges recently but involves other facets and spheres of society. We coin the term Thana-capitalism to denote a passage from risk society to a new stage, where the Other's death is situated as the main commodity to exchange. The risk society as it was imagined by Beck, set finally the pace to thana-capitalism. Dark Tourist proffers an interesting platform to gain further understanding of this slippery matter. In sharp contrast to Seaton, Sharpley or Stone, we argue that dark tourists are unable to create empathy with the victims. Instead, they visit these types of marginal destinations in order to re-elaborate a political attachment with their institutions. They consume the Other's pain not only to feel unique and special (a word that sounds all the time in the documentary) but also to affirm their privileged role as part of the selected peoples.
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Raj Arora, Charles Stoner and Alisha Arora
To investigate the influence of message framing and message credibility on one's attitude and intention toward exercise and fitness activities.
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the influence of message framing and message credibility on one's attitude and intention toward exercise and fitness activities.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 136 respondents participated in the study. A 2 × 2 factorial design was utilized and tested using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).
Findings
The findings reveal the significance of source credibility for influencing both attitude and intention toward exercise and fitness activities. Additionally, the results reveal a significant impact of current lifestyle on attitude as well as intention toward exercise and fitness activities.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest the importance of carefully designed messages to reach and affect a target population whose exercise activity has been largely unaffected despite years of public pronouncements and publicity.
Practical implications
Service marketers could most effectively encourage physical activity by utilizing highly credible sources in their messages. If high credibility sources cannot be secured, positively framed messages should be used.
Originality/value
The interaction effects of message framing and source credibility have received limited research attention, particularly in the exercise and fitness context.
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Diane Tropila and Brian H. Kleiner
The first female executives adhered to many of the rules of conduct that spelled success for men. Women were told that in order to succeed, they must play the corporate game the…
Abstract
The first female executives adhered to many of the rules of conduct that spelled success for men. Women were told that in order to succeed, they must play the corporate game the way men play it. Up to now, women's ways of thinking, doing and feeling did not have much place in the business world. However, according to Fortune Magazine, less than 0.5 percent of the highest paid officers and directors in America's largest public companies are women.(2) Could it be that this first wave of thought was wrong?
Charles J. Coate and Mark C. Mitschow
The Franciscan Friar Luca Pacioli is considered the “father of accounting” because of his 1494 publication Summa de Arithmetrica, Geometrica, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Summa)…
Abstract
The Franciscan Friar Luca Pacioli is considered the “father of accounting” because of his 1494 publication Summa de Arithmetrica, Geometrica, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Summa) which included a section double entry accounting. While accounting systems existed before Pacioli, he introduced double entry accounting as a more efficient means of keeping business records because that would lead to better business operation and profits. Subsequently, double entry accounting systems have contributed significantly to the rise of capitalism in Europe and the developed world.
Pacioli also advocated a moral and social role for accounting, business, and the successful business person whose actions help serve the public interest. This clearly indicated that Pacioli understood business was about more than bookkeeping and profitability.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) has played a significant role in business ethics for at least a century. Starting with Rerum Novarum, 1891 and continuing through numerous Papal Encyclicals (e.g., Caritas in Veritate, 2009; Centesimus Annus, 1991), CST has carefully examined how businesspeople, labor, and capital can cooperate to build a more just and peaceful society that fulfills the entire person. CST thus predates and contributes to contemporary business ethics efforts.
Pacioli’s contributions reflect and underlay much of contemporary CST, which is why we believe it is important to examine his social responsibility teaching in the context of contemporary CST principles. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss Pacioli’s view of the moral roles of accounting, business, and businesspeople in the context of CST principles, particularly (1) purpose of accounting profits, (2) purpose of business in society, (3) ethical and efficient business practices as they relate to accounting, and (4) the undivided life.
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Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
Charles Thorpe and Brynna Jacobson
Drawing upon Alfred Sohn-Rethel's work, we argue that, just as capitalism produces abstract labor, it coproduces both abstract mind and abstract life. Abstract mind is the split…
Abstract
Drawing upon Alfred Sohn-Rethel's work, we argue that, just as capitalism produces abstract labor, it coproduces both abstract mind and abstract life. Abstract mind is the split between mind and nature and between subject/observer and observed object that characterizes scientific epistemology. Abstract mind reflects an abstracted objectified world of nature as a means to be exploited. Biological life is rendered as abstract life by capitalist exploitation and by the reification and technologization of organisms by contemporary technoscience. What Alberto Toscano has called “the culture of abstraction” imposes market rationality onto nature and the living world, disrupting biotic communities and transforming organisms into what Finn Bowring calls “functional bio-machines.”
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Lee E. Bird, Tawny Taylor and Kevin M. Kraft
With the rise of social networking and the immediacy of electronic communication, the potential for harassment, threats, cyberbullying, perceived defamation, and general…
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With the rise of social networking and the immediacy of electronic communication, the potential for harassment, threats, cyberbullying, perceived defamation, and general incivility is greater than ever before. First Amendment issues create legal, philosophical and practical problems for administrators. In this chapter, the authors examine the intersection of First Amendment protections and student Internet conduct and provide practical information that student conduct administrators can readily apply in their daily work. Included are First Amendment definitions and concepts, an overview of policy considerations to protect the rights of both the individuals involved and the institution, a discussion of the distinctions between public and private institutions, investigation strategies, and a case study to walk readers through an examination of the issues and decision-making best practices for student conduct administrators.