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Flow is an optimal cognitive state that enhances consumer satisfaction. This paper aims to examine the effects of website features (product- and service-related cues) on consumers’ flow experiences and how flow affects satisfaction with e-commerce.

Responses were collected from 556 respondents who had recently made purchases online. Factor analysis identified a measure of flow applicable within e-commerce. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test hypothesized relationships between product- and service-oriented cues on flow and the influence of flow on satisfaction.

Flow experiences were favorably (unfavorably) influenced by product (service)-related cues. Of the five flow dimensions identified, three (enjoyment, goal clarity and feedback) positively affected, one (telepresence) negatively affected and one did not affect satisfaction.

Prior research recognized the importance of flow, but its role in e-commerce was unclear, as prior e-commerce flow measures were incongruous and traditional retail findings apply inconsistently online. By empirically establishing a counterintuitive link between controllable Web features and flow and demonstrating how the dimension of flow independently affect satisfaction, the understanding of flow is advanced.

Understanding the influence of controllable marketing factors on flow can help e-commerce managers enhance consumers’ flow experiences and satisfaction.

Product-related cues enhanced while service-related cues degraded flow perceptions, with the later effect running contrary to traditional retail findings. The authors assert that this negative relationship is based on consumers’ use of service-related cues online, which are needed when consumers fail to find information – representing flow disruption.

The inability to touch products online is the top reason consumers list for preferring to shop in traditional brick and mortar versus e-commerce stores (Havas Worldwide, 2013). Need for touch (NFT) comprises autotelic and instrumental motives, which, respectively, relate to enjoyment and utility. This study aimed to examine how consumers’ NFT motives affect loyalty intentions toward e-commerce websites, both directly and as mediated by consumers’ level of technology acceptance (ease of use, enjoyment and perceived usefulness [PU]). The moderating effect of synchronous versus asynchronous two-way communication with sellers on the relationships among consumers’ NFT, acceptance of technology and loyalty intention was also examined.

An online survey was conducted among consumers who had shopped from popular e-commerce websites chosen by this study within the 12 months prior to data collection.

Both types of NFT motives affected loyalty and technology acceptance. Specifically, autotelic NFT positively impacted perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived enjoyment (PE), whereas instrumental NFT negatively impacted PEOU, PE and loyalty intentions. Among the technology acceptance variables, PU had the strongest effect on loyalty intention. Tests of moderation revealed that high-quality, text-based synchronous communication (i.e. live chatting) with sellers can compensate for both autotelic and instrumental NFT.

This research shows how the inherent inability of e-commerce to meet consumers’ NFT stymies consumers’ e-commerce acceptance and affects their loyalty toward online retailers and examines strategies that e-commerce sites can use to compensate for this need.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers’ willingness to buy is influenced by two essential design elements: form and functional design. Form design refers to appearance and can be categorized as typical or non-typical. Function design relates to product features and can be the basis of whether a new product is perceived as a radically new product (RNP) vs an incrementally new product (INP). An interaction between form (typical vs non-typical) and function (RNP vs INP) was hypothesized and examined based on consumers’ knowledge of a product category and level of technological innovativeness.

Two between subject experiments were conducted in which two factors were manipulated (2×2 ANOVA): the degree of technological innovation (RNP vs INP) and form (more typical vs less typical).

Findings reveal that form design has a minimal impact on consumers’ evaluations of INPs, but less typical form design is preferred over typical form design for RNPs. Moreover, form design matters more to consumers who are technologically more innovative (vs less innovative) and more knowledgeable (vs less knowledgeable).

The managerial implications are multiple. Depending on the degree of the technological innovation, new design form can be strategically aligned to the function of a new product to increase perceived value – an effect observed among South Korean consumers that we anticipate will extend upon other cultures high in uncertainty avoidance.

This research will shed some light on an area of marketing that has been previously under-researched: form-based design in global innovation diffusion focusing on Asian countries and provide a more systematic approach to the empirical studies of form design issues in global marketing. This research extends the current design and innovation literature by examining the two dimensional types of design (visceral form and functionality) and potential moderators: degree of product innovation (RNP vs INP), consumer innovativeness, and consumer knowledge.

When consumers help other users of the same brand, both the brand and consumers benefit. To determine when consumer‐to‐consumer helping behaviors occur and to help managers encourage this value‐creating activity, this paper aims to investigate relationships between social identification and helping behavior intentions within a consumption community and its subgroups.

Surveys were given to consumers identified as members of a consumption community during an annual consumption event. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Consumers' identification with the overall community was positively related to helping behavior intentions toward the overall community, but not subgroup level. Subgroup identification was positively related to helping at the subgroup but negatively related to helping behavior intentions at the community level. When consumers identify with the overall community, they assist other consumers. However, consumers are less likely to help consumers in the overall community when identifying with a subgroup.

When consumers identify with a consumption community and its subgroups, their identification can lead to helping between members. Voluntary helping between consumers provides value to consumers and contributes to the firm's value‐creation process. This study helps managers understand how consumption community development simultaneously encourages and discourages consumer value‐creation through helping behaviors.

This study examines consumer value‐creation through the context of consumer helping intentions within consumption communities on a continuum, as opposed to the dichotomy implied by prior research. This study empirically demonstrates how consumers' membership in subgroups can motivate consumers to help some, but not other consumption community members.

The winter 1987 issue of Reference Services Review featured a bibliography of AIDS‐related materials prepared by Edmund SantaVicca, former head of Collection Management Services at Cleveland State University.

A growing body of research outlines how to best facilitate and ensure methodological rigor when using dictionary-based computerized text analyses (DBCTA) in organizational research. However, these best practices are currently scattered across several methodological and empirical manuscripts, making it difficult for scholars new to the technique to implement DBCTA in their own research. To better equip researchers looking to leverage this technique, this methodological report consolidates current best practices for applying DBCTA into a single, practical guide. In doing so, we provide direction regarding how to make key design decisions and identify valuable resources to help researchers from the beginning of the research process through final publication. Consequently, we advance DBCTA methods research by providing a one-stop reference for novices and experts alike concerning current best practices and available resources.

Technology for training military teams has evolved through a convergence of advances in simulation technology for individual and collective training, methods for analyzing teamwork and designing training solutions, and intelligent tutoring technologies that adapt training to the student, to accelerate learning. A number of factors have slowed this evolution toward intelligent team tutoring systems (ITTS), including the challenges of processing communications data, which are the currency of teamwork, and the paucity of automated and generalizable measures of team work. Several systems fulfill a subset of the features required of an ITTS, namely the use of team training objectives, teamwork models, measures of teamwork, diagnostic capability, instructional strategies, and adaptation of training to team needs. We describe these systems: the Advanced Embedded Training System (AETS), Synthetic Cognition for Operational Team Training (SCOTT), the AWO Trainer, the Benchmarked Experiential System for Training (BEST), and the Cross-Platform Mission Visualization Tool. We close this chapter with recommendations for future research.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of government regulation on economic value creation through the lens of Resource-Advantage Theory. This study intends to shed more light on how industry-government relationships affect the entrepreneurial activities that drive economic growth.

The authors use a test of joint significance (MacKinnon et al., 2002) in a generalized linear model to examine how competition mediates the relationship between government regulation and jobs and wages. The research context is the US brewing industry for the year 2012.

High excise taxes and certain sales restrictions negatively impact competition, which ultimately affects economic value creation. State regulators may effectively balance the need to bring in tax revenues on the one hand and promote healthy competition on the other by turning to small business tax credits and exemptions. The results of a post hoc analysis indicate excise taxes have the most pronounced effect at the manufacturing level of the supply chain as opposed to the wholesale and retail levels.

The predictive validity of this study suggests that Resource-Advantage Theory is a useful and appropriate framework for understanding how industry–government relations impact the competitive processes that lead to economic value creation. From a practical standpoint, the study also has several implications for public policy, which are detailed in the latter stages of the paper.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether students perceive grade inflation as a problem. It questions whether differences exist in perceptions based upon gender and grade point average (GPA).

Previously validated scales were used to assess perceptions. The sample included 108 full-time traditional-aged undergraduate students from a private university.

Students do not believe A grades are given more than deserved; however, they believe some receive higher grades than deserved. Grades are seen as an accurate reflection of achievement. Neither gender nor GPA differences were found on grade inflation perceptions, although women believe faculty give higher grades to receive better student evaluations.

This paper combines student perceptions about grade inflation and analysis by gender and GPA.