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Robotic coronary artery bypass (rCABG) is a relatively novel and less invasive form of surgery. A yearlong direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) campaign was initiated to provide the community with information regarding rCABG, increase awareness and recruit patients. To optimize information content and ensure appropriate messaging for future campaigns, this study aims to analyze the campaign effectiveness and compared service quality perceptions and clinical outcomes, following surgery across DTCA-responder and control groups.

The institution initiated an rCABG program and one-year DTCA campaign. The authors prospectively documented all rCABG referrals prompted by these ads (DTCA-responder group) and concurrent referrals from medical providers (controls). Groups were compared according to baseline characteristics, perioperative outcomes, patient satisfaction (HCAHPS survey) and functional capacity at three weeks (Duke Activity Status Index). At six months, both groups were surveyed for patient satisfaction and unmet expectations.

There were 103 DTCA responders and 77 controls. The subset of responders that underwent rCABG (n = 54) had similar characteristics to controls, except they were younger, less likely to have lung disease or to be scheduled as an urgent case. Both groups had similar 30-day clinical outcomes, functional capacity recovery and overall satisfaction at three weeks. Follow-up interviews at six months and four years revealed that the DTCA group reported more unmet expectations regarding the “size of the skin incisions” and “recovery time” but no concern about “expertise of their surgeon”.

The DTCA campaign was effective at recruiting patients. The specific focus of the ads and narrow timeframe for decision-making about CABG lends confidence that the incremental cases seen during the campaign were prompted primarily by DTCA. However, differences in unmet expectations underscore the need to better understand the impact of message content on patients recruited via DTCA campaigns.

This is one of the first studies to provide real-world direct empirical evidence of patients’ clinical and attitudinal outcomes for DTCA campaigns. Furthermore, the findings contradict prevailing beliefs that DTCA is ineffective for prompting surgical referrals.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the intersection of identity, culture, and consumption as it relates to multiracial identity development.

The authors employed a phenomenological approach wherein 21 multiracial women were interviewed to understanding the lived experience and meaning of multiracial identity development.

Findings of this study indicate that multiracial consumers engage with the marketplace to assuage racial discordance and legitimize the liminal space they occupy.

While there is much research related to the variety of ways marketing and consumption practices intersect with identity (re)formation, researchers have focused much of their attention on monoracial populations. This research identifies and fills a gap in the literature related to how multiple racial backgrounds complicate this understanding.

Due to their growing social visibility and recognized buying power, multiracial individuals have emerged as a viable consumer segment among marketers. However, there is a dearth of research examining how multiracial populations experience the marketplace.

This study provides a better understanding of the ways in which multiracial individuals utilize consumption practices as a means of developing and expressing their racial identity.

Facing a high birth rate, a falling mortality rate, and inconsistent policies on family planning from the 1950s to the early 1970s, the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched its widely known one‐child policy in 1979. The intention was to restrict population growth by reducing fertility through family planning and thereby to conserve the nation's resources to advance economic development. The effectiveness of the one‐child policy has varied greatly because policy regulations are differentially carried out by officials of provinces, municipalities, counties, communes, and minority regions. Generally speaking, the state policy has had greater acceptance in urban areas but is far less rigidly enforced by local officials in rural areas and for certain national minorities, which can have a second child under certain circumstances (Chow and Chen, 1994).

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and the selection of ERP vendors on supply management performance for Fortune 500.

The paper adopts the supply chain maturity model adopted by Gupta and Handfield (2011) and used publicly available information such as articles, research report, newspapers to develop objective maturity ratings for four key indicators – strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier relationship management.

The analysis results suggest ERP users are more mature than non-ERP users in three key indicators: strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier relationship management. Moreover, SAP ERP users are more mature than non-ERP users in strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier relationship management.

This study does not account for the longitudinal performance of ERP systems, nor does it account for differences between organizational scope of ERP deployment, global reach, or implementation duration. The authors also did not include other measures of supply chain performance outside of the procurement area. These factors could provide further insights to supply chain performance, and will be an interesting topic for future research.

This study provides an extensive analysis of how the deployment of ERP systems and the selection of ERP vendors can benefit a company’s supply chain performance. This information is valuable for companies that are considering adapting an ERP system.

This paper uses innovative an maturity assessment rating approach with publicly available resources to measure supply management performance across different companies. This method is novel and provides valuable insights to how ERP systems and their vendors’ impact supply chain management performance.

Family status is often regarded as an important factor determining female labor force participation as well as outcomes of that participation such as wages and occupational standing. Indeed, employment status can be expected to have implications for the work patterns of both men and women, through timing or scheduling conflicts, and other constraints related to the roles of parent and spouse. In this article the relationship between underemployment and family status is examined in a multivariate framework. Underemployment is measured here as a combination of unemployment, involuntary part‐time work, overeducation, and low wages, using data from the 1972 and 1982 March Current Population Survey. The findings suggest that family status is important for both men and women, although the most salient role for men is that of spouse, while for women the parental role has the strongest effect. Both men and women experience negative work outcomes related to single parenthood.

The purpose of this study is to understand factors that motivate an individual to seek knowledge on knowledge management systems. Specifically, the work seeks to clarify the impact of organizational practices on an individual’s intention to seek knowledge. The overarching theme is to broaden the current understanding of factors that impact individual knowledge seeking behavior and narrow down factors for which interventions can be developed.

In-depth interviews were conducted with the members of knowledge management (KM), human resources (HR) and learning and development teams of Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Private Limited (RBEI) to understand knowledge behaviors of employees. Subsequent to an exploratory analysis, the survey methodology was used to collect data from members of RBEI. A proposed theoretical model was then validated using partial least squares.

Empirical findings suggest that to motivate participation, organizational KM practices need to be geared towards promoting curiosity and engaging learners. Results indicate that overt recognition of knowledge seeking behaviors by HR could be counterproductive.

This study was limited to an MNC engineering organization in one geographic location; one must be cautious when generalizing these results. Replicating this study in multiple organizations will help mitigate this limitation.

Little is known on the effect of KM and HR practices on knowledge seeking behaviors. This work addresses this gap and presents a comprehensive model.

The time of the meaningless bit of paper had come and gone and, with a murderous dictator on the rampage, the great Churchill was called upon to truck with another unsavoury character in the east and pledge national assets for more democratic help via the New World. In anticipation of a further reckoning with Germany, trade generally had begun to pick up by 1932 and the paint industry received commensurate benefit. Rearmament took up any slack and one assumes brought to an end the deterioration in turnover of such companies as Nobel Chemical Finishes. Indeed, the general atmosphere in paint company boardrooms was one of smiles tempered with a certain anxiety regarding the international situation. Then, the inevitable happened, and the whole degrading business of war had to be re‐enacted in the broader interest of stifling tyranny.

This study aims to determine the impact of social media usage on university student’s academic performance in Ghana.

A quantitative research method was used for the study. With the aid of a simple random sampling technique, quantitative data were obtained from 373 out of 400 respondents representing 93 per cent of volunteered participants. Data collected was analysed using structural equation modelling to establish the relationship among social media information, social media entertainment, social media innovation, social media knowledge generation and student performance.

The findings of this study indicate that social media information, social media innovation and social media entertainment all had a significant positive influence on social media knowledge generation, which has wide learning and knowledge management implications. Also, the study indicated that information computer technology knowledge moderates the relationship between social media and student performance.

The sample taken was mainly cross-sectional in nature rendering the inference of causal relationships between the variables impossible. Future researchers should adopt a longitudinal research design to examine causality. Finally, the study was limited to only university students in Accra, Ghana. Future research can extend to a bigger student population and to other West African and African countries.

This paper will serve as a profitable source of information for managers and researchers who may embark on future research on social media and academic performance. The findings that social media information, innovation and entertainment can likewise enhance social media knowledge generation can help managers and university teachers to use the vehicle of innovation and entertainment to communicate knowledge.

The findings of this study will help policymakers in education and other industries that engage the youth to realise the important factors that can make them get the best in the social media space.

Social media usage in academic performance is increasingly prevalent. However, little is known about how social media knowledge generation mediates between social media usage and academic performance and, furthermore, whether the information computer technology knowledge level of students moderates the relationship between social media knowledge generation and academic performance of university students in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Ghana. Theoretically, the findings of this study provide clear research evidence to guide various investigations that can be done on the relationships of the variables under social media usage, knowledge generation and university student performance, which advances the diffusion of new knowledge.

The importance of radiation curing was emphasised in the United States in 1984 when over 11,000 people specialising in this area — either a manufacturer or user attended a conference on the subject. Obviously interest is high.