Charlotte Kroløkke, Thomas Søbirk Petersen, Janne Rothmar Herrmann, Anna Sofie Bach, Stine Willum Adrian, Rune Klingenberg and Michael Nebeling Petersen
Mohammadali Zolfagharian, Fei L. Weisstein and A. Fuat Fırat
Price has conventionally been viewed as an indicator of either monetary sacrifice or product quality. Previous studies on price are preoccupied with reactions and perceptions of…
Abstract
Purpose
Price has conventionally been viewed as an indicator of either monetary sacrifice or product quality. Previous studies on price are preoccupied with reactions and perceptions of consumers upon encountering price information. Research with explicit discussion of the meanings of price to consumers is rare. The purpose of the current research is to revisit the meaning of price to consumers in general, the deeper meanings that price has for people, and the conventional meanings that it carries.
Methodology/approach
Three focus groups and nine in-depth interviews were conducted. A total of 36 individuals participated in the study.
Findings
Our findings suggest that the notion of price is multifaceted. In addition to the conventional meanings, price can be related to how consumers perceive themselves and/or their lives in the socioeconomic order they inhabit.
Practical implications
Managerially, exploring the meanings of price could yield further productive results. As the implications of price regarding how consumers feel about themselves are revealed, pricing strategies that yield greater satisfaction for consumers can be discovered and implemented.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, research with an explicit focus on the meaning of price for adult consumers is rare. By providing deeper insights into what price truly means to consumers, this study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of price.
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Maarten Vansteenkiste, Nathalie Aelterman, Leen Haerens and Bart Soenens
Given the complexity of societal, technological, and economic challenges encountered by schools and teachers, one may wonder whether and how teachers can still optimally motivate…
Abstract
Given the complexity of societal, technological, and economic challenges encountered by schools and teachers, one may wonder whether and how teachers can still optimally motivate their students. To adopt a motivating role in today’s ever-changing, even stormy, educational landscape, teachers need more than a checklist of motivating practices. They also need a fundamental theoretical perspective that can serve as a general source of inspiration for their everyday classroom practices across various situations and in interaction with different students. Herein, we argue that self-determination theory represents such a valuable perspective. In Part I, we discuss the satisfaction of learners’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness as a source of student motivation, engagement, and resilience. We also present a recently developed circular model involving a broad variety of motivating (i.e., need-supportive) and demotivating (i.e., need-thwarting) teaching practices appealing to these three needs. In Part II, we discuss several implications of this circular model, thereby discussing the diverse pathways that lead to student need satisfaction, motivation, and engagement as well as highlighting teachers’ capacity for calibration to deal with uncertainty and change. We conclude that school principals and teachers do well to invest in both students’ and teachers’ psychological need experiences, such that they become skilled in flexibly adjusting themselves to diversity, uncertainty, and change.
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Tianyu Hou, Wei Wang, Liang Zhang, Julie Juan Li and Bin Chong
Although research on how the downstream calculations of a patent’s profit potential influence invention renewal decisions is extensive, the impact of the upstream knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Although research on how the downstream calculations of a patent’s profit potential influence invention renewal decisions is extensive, the impact of the upstream knowledge creation stages is overlooked. The purpose of this study is to address this theoretical vacuum by examining the intra-organizational configuration of knowledge networks and collaboration networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The data consist of 491 global pharmaceutical firms that patent in the USA. Drawing on patent records, the authors simultaneously construct intra-organizational knowledge networks and collaboration networks and identify network cohesion features (i.e. local and global). The authors employ panel fixed-effects models to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that local knowledge cohesion and local social cohesion decrease invention renewals, while global knowledge cohesion and global social cohesion increase renewals. Moreover, the marginal effects of local and global social cohesion are stronger than those of local and global knowledge cohesion, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The hypotheses are tested using the pharmaceutical industry as a research setting, which limits the generalizability of our findings. In addition, potential formal and informal contingencies are not considered.
Practical implications
Despite its limitations, this study provides valuable implications. First, managers are cautioned against the adverse effects of local cohesion structures on invention renewal. Second, firms can dynamically adjust their local and global network configuration strategies to harmonize the generation of valuable inventions and the retention of good ideas.
Originality/value
Complementary to previous research that focused on inventions’ performance feedback, this study delves into upstream knowledge creation stages to understand invention renewals.
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Julija Moskvina, Anca Hanea, Tomas Vedlūga and Birutė Mockevičienė
This chapter discusses the empirical data analysis that will form the basis of the early pricing framework. It focusses on the complexity of furniture production and describes the…
Abstract
This chapter discusses the empirical data analysis that will form the basis of the early pricing framework. It focusses on the complexity of furniture production and describes the historical production data collected from companies, along with the potential applications of machine learning for knowledge management purposes. The chapter then presents the results of machine learning for early cost estimation as part of a lean innovation that is affordable and accessible for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Finally, the chapter describes an experiment on the structured expert evaluation methodology, which shows that a well-formed panel of experts can increase the predictive power of machine learning solutions, particularly at extreme points.
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Johnmarshall Reeve and Sung Hyeon Cheon
Our ongoing program of research works with teachers to help them become more autonomy supportive during instruction and hence more able to promote students’ classroom motivation…
Abstract
Purpose
Our ongoing program of research works with teachers to help them become more autonomy supportive during instruction and hence more able to promote students’ classroom motivation and engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
We have published five experimentally based, longitudinally designed, teacher-focused intervention studies that have tested the effectiveness and educational benefits of an autonomy-supportive intervention program (ASIP).
Findings
Findings show that (1) teachers can learn how to become more autonomy supportive and less controlling toward students, (2) students of the teachers who participate in ASIP report greater psychological need satisfaction and lesser need frustration, (3) these same students report and behaviorally display a wide range of important educational benefits, such as greater classroom engagement, (4) teachers benefit as much from giving autonomy support as their students do from receiving it as teachers show large postintervention gains in outcomes such as teaching efficacy and job satisfaction, and (5) these ASIP-induced benefits are long lasting as teachers use the ASIP experience as a professional developmental opportunity to upgrade the quality of their motivating style.
Originality/value
Our ASIP helps teachers learn how to better support their students’ autonomy during instruction. The value of this teaching skill can be seen in teachers’ and students’ enhanced classroom experience and functioning.
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Maarten Vansteenkiste, Christopher P. Niemiec and Bart Soenens
Cognitive evaluation theory (CET; Deci, 1975), SDT's first mini-theory, was built from research on the dynamic interplay between external events (e.g., rewards, choice) and…
Abstract
Cognitive evaluation theory (CET; Deci, 1975), SDT's first mini-theory, was built from research on the dynamic interplay between external events (e.g., rewards, choice) and people's task interest or enjoyment – that is, intrinsic motivation (IM). At the time, this research was quite controversial, as operant theory (Skinner, 1971) had dominated the psychological landscape. The central assumption of operant theory was that reinforcement contingencies in the environment control behavior, which precluded the existence of inherently satisfying activities performed for non-separable outcomes. During this time, Deci proposed that people – by nature – possess intrinsic motivation (IM), which can manifest as engagement in curiosity-based behaviors, discovery of new perspectives, and seeking out optimal challenges (see also Harlow, 1953; White, 1959). IM thus represents a manifestation of the organismic growth tendency and is readily observed in infants' and toddlers' exploratory behavior and play. Operationally, an intrinsically motivated activity is performed for its own sake – that is, the behavior is experienced as inherently satisfying. From an attributional perspective (deCharms, 1968), such behaviors have an internal perceived locus of causality, as people perceive their behavior as emanating from their sense of self, rather than from experiences of control or coercion.
Corine van Wijhe, Maria Peeters, Wilmar Schaufeli and Marcel van den Hout
This study aims at disentangling the different underlying motivations that drive workaholic and engaged employees to work excessively hard. The Mood as Input (MAI) model serves as…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims at disentangling the different underlying motivations that drive workaholic and engaged employees to work excessively hard. The Mood as Input (MAI) model serves as an explanatory framework. The MAI model assumes that, dependent on the stop rule used, a different mood state may lead to persistence. When individuals evaluate whether they still enjoy an activity (an enjoyment stop rule), a positive mood would signal enjoyment, resulting in persistence. On the other hand, when individuals evaluate whether they have done enough (an enough stop rule), a negative mood would signal discontentment, which would also result in persistence.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey study (n=173) was conducted to test the applicability of the MAI model to the work context.
Findings
It was hypothesized and found that workaholism is positively related to negative mood and using an enough stop rule to determine when to stop working. In addition, this study showed that work engagement is related to positive mood. The findings did not support the expectation that work engagement is related to using an enjoyment stop rule to determine when to stop working. In conclusion, the results indicate that both mood and stop rules may be useful for explaining the difference in motivation to work persistently between workaholism and work engagement.
Originality/value
The paper advances the understanding of reasons to work hard which are related to work engagement and workaholism. Knowledge about the reasons why employees work hard can help professionals to prevent workaholism, thereby stimulating healthy and enduring careers.
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The 25th annual seminar of the European Library Automation Group (ELAG) was held in Prague in June 2001. This report provides an overview of the papers presented, including those…
Abstract
The 25th annual seminar of the European Library Automation Group (ELAG) was held in Prague in June 2001. This report provides an overview of the papers presented, including those describing relevant developments in the Czech Republic, those covering the theme of the seminar (the integration and linking of electronic resources), as well as papers on the functional requirements for bibliographic records (FRBR). Workshops are a key feature of ELAG seminars and the paper also reports on those held during the 2001 meeting.