David Gilbert, Pierre Balestrini and Darren Littleboy
This article examines the reasons individuals would choose electronic self‐service delivery methods over more traditional methods of service delivery for government services. The…
Abstract
This article examines the reasons individuals would choose electronic self‐service delivery methods over more traditional methods of service delivery for government services. The study investigated the factors related to decision making when people consider and evaluate the usage of an online e‐government delivery mechanism. The approach taken was based on a combination of attitudinal technology adoption models and the service quality concept, with data gathered via a questionnaire. Trust, financial security, information quality (all adoption barriers), time and money (both adoption benefits) were found to predict potential usage. That is willingness to use the online delivery option will be present if organisations can develop trust relationships with individuals, assure them that their financial details are secure, provide information that is relevant, accurate and up‐to‐date, and save individuals time and money. The results are significant to the public service manager who needs to consider both the barriers to adoption and the benefits of adoption if they are to develop plans to increase the take‐up of their electronic services.
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Pierre Balestrini and Paul Gamble
The paper seeks to examine Chinese consumers' wine‐purchasing behaviour and, more especially, the importance of country of origin (COO) effects in the evaluation and assessment of…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to examine Chinese consumers' wine‐purchasing behaviour and, more especially, the importance of country of origin (COO) effects in the evaluation and assessment of wine quality and as it relates to decision making for wine purchases.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study were collected in 2004 through an interviewer‐administered, structured questionnaire targeted at randomly selected wine buyers in the ChangNing district of Shanghai (China). Chinese consumers tend to purchase wine primarily for sensorial reasons, consuming it on social occasions. Wine has never acquired the connotations of being merely a thirst‐quenching drink as it did in some European countries. They are also attracted to wine for its health benefits.
Findings
It was found that Chinese consumers are more likely to use extrinsic cues than intrinsic cues to evaluate wine quality. Thus, COO information is a significantly more important cue than price for Chinese consumers as a quality cue. However, there appears to be no significant difference in the importance of COO and brand in this regard. Wine is a complex product – small differences in any one of a huge range of variables, from the weather, through the grape, the production method, the storage and even the bottling can affect quality. As might be expected in a market that is relatively under‐developed and which has a smaller experience of wine drinking than some other parts of the world, Chinese consumers pay much more attention to COO when they purchase wine for special occasions, where their choice is exposed to the judgment of others. By contrast, when purchasing wine for their own private consumption, COO assumes a lesser importance.
Originality/value
This research can significantly help wine marketers to develop more effective positioning strategies in China. It will also help in the development of pricing and promotional decisions.
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The purpose of this study is to segment Lebanese wine customers based on their level of involvement with wine. It also profiles them on the basis of wine drinking motivations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to segment Lebanese wine customers based on their level of involvement with wine. It also profiles them on the basis of wine drinking motivations, wine attributes and information sources, wine consumption and purchasing behaviour and socio-demographic characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
The data in the study was collected from the main supermarkets, hypermarkets and special liquor outlets as well as upscale restaurants serving alcohol in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, through a structured questionnaire. Out of 700 people approached, only 498 surveys were collected. After splitting consumers into three different segments: high, moderate and low involvement, the study clearly profiles the groups by employing principal component analysis, ANOVA and chi-square analysis.
Findings
After splitting consumers into three different groups based on involvement with wine; high, moderate and low, the study clearly identified the differences between groups regarding wine attributes, information sources, purchasing and consumption and socio-demographic characteristics.
Originality/value
Although there are plenty of studies on the examination of wine consumers in the literature from diverse countries, this is the first study investigating wine consumers based on wine involvement in a Middle Eastern country, Lebanon.
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This paper investigates the relationship between organizational structures and the performance of FORTUNE 500 companies, which have always been among the most profitable and…
Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between organizational structures and the performance of FORTUNE 500 companies, which have always been among the most profitable and admired in the world. After a discussion of whether companies should organize regionally, nationally, or globally, the important assumption is made that each structural type utilizes resources differently in generating profit. Performance is conceptualized as Return on Capital Employed (RoCE) and Return per Employee (RpE). A sample of 50 companies was randomly selected. Testing revealed that structural types are positively related to financial performance, calculated as RoCE, with Multidivisional-structured companies outperforming Functional-structured ones; structural types are not related to human resource performance, calculated as RpE.
Morgan E. Currie, Britt S. Paris and Joan M. Donovan
The purpose of this paper is to expand on emergent data activism literature to draw distinctions between different types of data management practices undertaken by groups of data…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand on emergent data activism literature to draw distinctions between different types of data management practices undertaken by groups of data activists.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors offer three case studies that illuminate the data management strategies of these groups. Each group discussed in the case studies is devoted to representing a contentious political issue through data, but their data management practices differ in meaningful ways. The project Making Sense produces their own data on pollution in Kosovo. Fatal Encounters collects “missing data” on police homicides in the USA. The Environmental Data Governance Initiative hopes to keep vulnerable US data on climate change and environmental injustices in the public domain.
Findings
In analysing the three case studies, the authors surface how temporal dimensions, geographic scale and sociotechnical politics influence their differing data management strategies.
Originality/value
The authors build upon extant literature on data management infrastructure, which primarily discusses how these practices manifest in scientific and institutional research settings, to analyse how data management infrastructure is often crucial to social movements that rely on data to surface political issues.