Jeananne Nicholls, Kurt Schimmel, Dean Manna, Norman Schnurr and Steven Clinton
Sports’ team websites are the front door to their relationship management programs with teams’ fan bases. As such, consumer attitudes toward these websites are a vital and…
Abstract
Purpose
Sports’ team websites are the front door to their relationship management programs with teams’ fan bases. As such, consumer attitudes toward these websites are a vital and important measure for the success of a team's CRM program. The purpose of this paper is to present the conceptualization and development of a four‐item unidimensional measure of attitude toward the Website.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected via a pen and paper survey at a professional hockey event in the USA. The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using generalized structural component analysis GeSCA www.sem‐gesca.org/. The scale's face, convergent, predictive and discriminant validity are all empirically demonstrated via regression and correlation.
Findings
The measure is shown to meet the four criteria for validation for positivist research in information systems set by Straub, Boudreau and Gefen in 2004. The internal consistency is assessed by Cronbach's alpha (0.917) as is the unidimensionality, which was assessed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The study develops a four item measure, attitude toward the website, that addresses both the affective and cognitive components of attitudes. The scale is shown to have predictive and discriminant validity.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected via a convenience sample at one professional sporting event and represents the fan base and the attitude toward that team's website. The significant implication is that it provides researchers with a unidimensional measure of attitude toward the website. The scale is parsimonious and will benefit researchers exploring the impact of attitudes toward websites on a variety of constructs such as brands, sales and site visits.
Originality/value
The paper is important because it provides a new measure of attitude toward the website and because it demonstrates the use of generalized structural component analysis.
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The purpose of this article is to investigate the communicative constitution of organizational inclusion and/or exclusion through humorous acts at the expense of members of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to investigate the communicative constitution of organizational inclusion and/or exclusion through humorous acts at the expense of members of minorities and/or historically disadvantaged groups.
Design/methodology/approach
Semistructured interviews with 84 employees in Austria and Germany dealing with their experiences regarding diversity and inclusion (D&I) at work were conducted and analyzed in two steps. First, a thematic text analysis was performed to structure the content and identify relevant themes and anecdotes for further analysis. Second, a ventriloquial analysis sought to identify the physically absent yet present voices in these anecdotes.
Findings
The interviews revealed that jokes and quips mostly target colleagues of observable foreign origin. The analysis further identified three themes that show that disparaging humor can simultaneously reinforce inclusion/exclusion across hierarchies and create boundaries within teams – but in different ways. The findings also indicate that above all prejudices “participate” in such events and that in most cases the collective is invoked to increase the joke's “authority”.
Originality/value
This research is the first one that investigates humor in the context of D&I through a communicative constitution of organization (CCO) lens, which facilitates studying the constitutive character of humorous communication in terms of inclusion and exclusion. Moreover, this is one of the first empirical humor studies to draw on established theory-driven concepts of inclusion-exclusion in its analysis.
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Ksenia Kirillova and Janelle Chan
This paper aims to investigate the effect of hotel aesthetics as represented in online spaces (e.g. online travel agency website) in prospective guests’ evaluation of expected…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the effect of hotel aesthetics as represented in online spaces (e.g. online travel agency website) in prospective guests’ evaluation of expected service quality and booking intentions, as well as the interplay between aesthetic and functional values as related to those outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A scenario-based experimental design is conducted with 203 Chinese respondents. A between-subject two-way multivariate analysis of covariance (high vs low aesthetic value; high vs low functional value), which also controlled for respondents’ individual tendency to appreciate beauty, is used.
Findings
Results show that high aesthetic value hotels are more likely to be booked and perceived as able to deliver better services in SERVQUAL dimensions of tangibles, reliability and assurance. There are no significant effects for responsiveness and empathy. Given the presence of the aesthetic effect, hotel functional value has no impact on the outcome variables.
Practical implications
Hotel managers are recommended to employ professional photographer-artists who are aware of the aesthetic value of hotels and can translate this value into information technology-mediated spaces. Such professionals should be able to create a composition that balances the elements of classic (e.g. symmetry vs asymmetry) and expressive (e.g. color) aesthetics.
Originality/value
This research brings out a number of insights from the product experience literature in the hospitality context and points to the limitations of the product visual attractiveness in engendering positive service quality evaluation.
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Cory A. Crane, Robert C. Schlauch and Caroline J. Easton
Over the course of their service, veterans are exposed to elevated levels of chronic stress that contribute to a greater prevalence of mental illness than observed in the general…
Abstract
Purpose
Over the course of their service, veterans are exposed to elevated levels of chronic stress that contribute to a greater prevalence of mental illness than observed in the general population. When mental illness is present, comorbidity is normative. Convergent evidence suggests that co-occurring substance use and mental illness is among the most prevalent forms of comorbidity within veteran samples. The purpose of this paper is to explore issues associated with dual diagnoses among veterans in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
Research on dual diagnoses among veterans was reviewed and consolidated for presentation into three substantive content areas consisting of prevalence, associated conditions, and treatment of dual diagnoses.
Findings
Dually diagnosed veterans represent a group at particularly high risk for myriad adverse biopsychosocial and treatment outcomes, including poor health, suicidality, violence or aggressive behavior, arrest, homelessness, and unemployment. A comprehensive strategy has been implemented within the Veterans Health Administration to address dual diagnosis and related problems. Additional research is required to more readily identify co-occurring substance use and mental illness and to refine integrated intervention approaches to minimize burden while improving treatment outcomes for veterans and their families.
Originality/value
The current review includes a wide range of research spanning more than two decades and describing dual diagnosis among combat veterans of all modern eras. Areas in need of further research (e.g. dual diagnosis among female veterans; early detection of psychopathology and fully integrated care among returning veterans) are identified and discussed.
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The purpose of this paper is to review several major components of hostage negotiation including: the different types of hostage situations; the prediction of the behavioral…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review several major components of hostage negotiation including: the different types of hostage situations; the prediction of the behavioral patterns of the hostage taker; the collection and the use of police intelligence in hostage incidents; and the application of forensic psychology during the hostage negotiations process.
Design/methodology/approach
Emphasis on the social psychological aspects of creating attitude change and gaining compliance with the hostage taker are introduced to assist in developing an effective crisis communication approach during the hostage negotiations process.
Findings
The paper also discusses trends in hostage negotiation strategies within incidents of domestic violence, suicide by cop, school shootings, and suicide/homicide bombings.
Practical implications
Limitations and advancements in the field of hostage negotiations are also discussed as well as suggestions for the use of tactical entry to resolve unsuccessful hostage negotiations.
Social implications
Explores the current trend of “suicide by cop,” but also introduces the concept of homicide by cop in relation to police shootings.
Originality/value
The use of criminal psychology in developing hostage negotiation strategies to engage hostage takers with personality disorders, PTSD, paranoid schizophrenia, and suicidal depression is also discussed.
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Cassandra Perryman, Genevieve Dingle and David Clark
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology during treatment in a drug and alcohol therapeutic community.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology during treatment in a drug and alcohol therapeutic community.
Design/methodology/approach
A repeated measures design was employed that looked at PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress at a pre- and post-timepoint. A second sample was then evaluated at time of program completion to seven months post-treatment.
Findings
PTSD symptomatology significantly decreased in individuals who had undertaken treatment, and continued to decline post-treatment. This finding was irrespective of any PTSD-specific treatment.
Research limitations/implications
PTSD specific treatment is not necessary to lower the symptomatology. Furthermore, this provides evidence that PTSD and substance use disorders are so highly intertwined that the comorbidity can almost be considered a single, diagnosis.
Originality/value
This is a partial replication of previous research which had not previously been replicated. This research also adds to the limited research which looks at PTSD from the perspective of drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
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Tseng-Lung Huang and Henry F.L. Chung
Drawing on embodied cognition theory, this study examined the impact of midair, gesture-based somatosensory augmented reality (AR) experience on consumer delight and stickiness…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on embodied cognition theory, this study examined the impact of midair, gesture-based somatosensory augmented reality (AR) experience on consumer delight and stickiness intention. The mediating effects of three psychological states for body schema (i.e. natural symbol sets, vivid memory and human touch) on the relationships between somatosensory AR and consumer delight/stickiness intention are determined. By filling gaps in the research, we hope to provide guidance on how to drive delightful somatosensory AR marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
Two experiments were conducted (Study 1 and Study 2) to test the research model and hypotheses. These experiments compared the effects of the “presence” (midair, gesture-based) and “absence” (mouse-based traditional website) conditions in somatosensory AR on consumer body schema and the creation of a delightful virtual shopping experience (i.e. consumer delight and stickiness intention).
Findings
The consumer delight and stickiness intention created in the presence condition was much higher than those in the absence condition. Consumers appeared to prefer engaging in a midair gesture-based somatosensory AR experience and exploring an augmented metaverse reality to interacting with a mouse-based traditional website. We also found that giving online consumers more somatosensory activities and kinesthetic experiences effectively inspired three psychological states of body schema in online consumers.
Originality/value
The results contribute to the AR experience and somatosensory marketing literature by revealing the role of natural symbol sets, vivid memory and the sense of human touch. This research breaks through the long-developed research paradigm on consumer delight, which has been limited to traditional entities and web contexts. We also extend embodied cognition theory to the study of somatosensory AR marketing.