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Article
Publication date: 4 June 2018

Sarah Dodds, Sandy L. Bulmer and Andrew J. Murphy

This paper aims to explore consumer experiences of spiritual value and investigates whether it is distinct from ethical value within a large and growing private sector health-care…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore consumer experiences of spiritual value and investigates whether it is distinct from ethical value within a large and growing private sector health-care setting. Understanding consumers’ experiences of spiritual value versus ethical value has important implications for corporate social responsibility as increasingly, consumers want their spiritual needs met.

Design/methodology/approach

The research adopts an exploratory case study approach using in-depth interviews with 16 consumers who use complementary and alternative medicine health-care services. Drawing on consumer value frameworks, a thematic analysis identified dimensions of spiritual and ethical values co-created during their consumption experiences.

Findings

From a consumer’s perspective, spiritual value is distinct from ethical value. The key finding is that participants talked about spiritual value predominantly in reactive terms (apprehending, appreciating, admiring or responding), whereas ethical value was referred to as active (taking action).

Research limitations/implications

This paper enhances the understanding of spiritual value and provides evidence that people want their spiritual needs met in a private health-care context. Furthermore, this study provides insights into the consumption experience of spiritual value that can be considered, with further research, in other health-care and service contexts.

Originality/value

This paper offers a new view on corporate social responsibility by taking a consumer’s perspective, and identifying that consumer experiences of spiritual value are important and distinct from ethical value.

Details

Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-1117

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 January 2018

Sarah Dodds, Sandy Bulmer and Andrew Murphy

Consumer experiences of healthcare services are challenging for researchers to study because of the complex, intangible and temporal nature of service provision. The purpose of…

Abstract

Purpose

Consumer experiences of healthcare services are challenging for researchers to study because of the complex, intangible and temporal nature of service provision. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel longitudinal three-phase research protocol, which combines iterative interviewing with visual techniques. This approach is utilised to study consumer service experiences, dimensions of consumer value and consumer value co-creation in a transformational service setting: complementary and alternative medicine healthcare.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employed a three-phase qualitative longitudinal research protocol, which incorporated: an initial in-depth interview, implementation of the visual elicitation technique Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique and a final interview to gain participant feedback on the analysis of data collected in the first two phases.

Findings

Four key benefits derived from using the three-phase protocol are reported: confirmation and elaboration of consumer value themes, emergence of underreported themes, evidence of transformation and refinement of themes, ensuring dependability of data and subsequent theory development.

Originality/value

The study provides evidence that a longitudinal multi-method approach using in-depth interviews and visual methods is a powerful tool that service researchers should consider, particularly for transformative service research settings with sensitive contexts, such as healthcare, and when studying difficult to articulate concepts, such as consumer value and value co-creation.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 28 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2011

Andrew J. Murphy

This paper aims to report results from an exploratory study of farmers' markets, taking particular interest in the motives for participation of customers, and their perceptions of…

2751

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report results from an exploratory study of farmers' markets, taking particular interest in the motives for participation of customers, and their perceptions of the functioning of markets as co‐created sites of local food production, retail and consumption. Customer perceptions are also compared between farmers' markets and supermarkets.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires were completed by 252 customers at 11 farmers' markets around New Zealand in 2008‐2009. Customers rated the importance of 31 constructs that might influence their involvement. For comparison, 257 supermarket shoppers in Auckland completed a similar questionnaire. Student t‐tests are used to distinguish between samples and subsample groups.

Findings

The paper finds that product quality is the key motivator for patronage, with price not a significant barrier to purchase or visits to farmers' markets. The “retail environment” has only a modest influence on market customer choices, and markets are only partially co‐created, with customers not highly valuing interaction with producers. Customers rated price, location and store environment constructs to be much more important at supermarkets than at markets.

Originality/value

Farmers' markets have experienced recent rapid growth and diffusion in many parts of the world, including Australasia, becoming popular sites of small retail trade and local cultural exchange. This paper contributes to the understanding of what motivates customers to participate in them, and what distinguishes markets from other food retailing sites such as supermarkets, at least in the New Zealand context.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 39 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 21 June 2011

Neil Towers

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Abstract

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 39 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Book part
Publication date: 15 January 2010

Isobel Claire Gormley and Thomas Brendan Murphy

Ranked preference data arise when a set of judges rank, in order of their preference, a set of objects. Such data arise in preferential voting systems and market research surveys…

Abstract

Ranked preference data arise when a set of judges rank, in order of their preference, a set of objects. Such data arise in preferential voting systems and market research surveys. Covariate data associated with the judges are also often recorded. Such covariate data should be used in conjunction with preference data when drawing inferences about judges.

To cluster a population of judges, the population is modeled as a collection of homogeneous groups. The Plackett-Luce model for ranked data is employed to model a judge's ranked preferences within a group. A mixture of Plackett- Luce models is employed to model the population of judges, where each component in the mixture represents a group of judges.

Mixture of experts models provide a framework in which covariates are included in mixture models. Covariates are included through the mixing proportions and the component density parameters. A mixture of experts model for ranked preference data is developed by combining a mixture of experts model and a mixture of Plackett-Luce models. Particular attention is given to the manner in which covariates enter the model. The mixing proportions and group specific parameters are potentially dependent on covariates. Model selection procedures are employed to choose optimal models.

Model parameters are estimated via the ‘EMM algorithm’, a hybrid of the expectation–maximization and the minorization–maximization algorithms. Examples are provided through a menu survey and through Irish election data. Results indicate mixture modeling using covariates is insightful when examining a population of judges who express preferences.

Details

Choice Modelling: The State-of-the-art and The State-of-practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-773-8

Book part
Publication date: 27 October 2016

Alexandra L. Ferrentino, Meghan L. Maliga, Richard A. Bernardi and Susan M. Bosco

This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in…

Abstract

This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.

Details

Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-973-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 29 August 2018

Paul A. Pautler

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and…

Abstract

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

Details

Healthcare Antitrust, Settlements, and the Federal Trade Commission
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-599-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 February 2015

Jonathan Murphy and Hugh Willmott

The paper adopts an organizational perspective to explore the conditions of possibility of the recent re-emergence of overt class-based discourse on one hand, epitomized by the…

Abstract

The paper adopts an organizational perspective to explore the conditions of possibility of the recent re-emergence of overt class-based discourse on one hand, epitomized by the ‘We are the 99%’ movement, and the rise on the other hand of a populist, nativist and sometimes overtly fascist right. It is argued that these phenomena, reflecting the increasingly crisis-prone character of global capitalism, the growing gap between rich and poor and a generalized sense of insecurity, are rooted in the dismantling of socially embedded organizations through processes often described as ‘financialization’, driven by the taken-for-granted dominance of neoliberal ideology. The paper explores the rise to dominance of the neoliberal ‘thought style’ and its inherent logic in underpinning the dismantling and restructuring of capitalist organization. Its focus is upon transnational value chain capitalism which has rebalanced power relations in favour of a small elite that is able to operate and realize wealth in ways that defy and often succeed in escaping the regulation of nation states.

Article
Publication date: 13 August 2021

Eddie Chaplin, Amina Rawat, Bhathika Perera, Jane McCarthy, Ken Courtenay, Andrew Forrester, Susan Young, Hannah Hayward, Jess Sabet, Lisa Underwood, Richard Mills, Philip Asherson and Declan Murphy

This paper aims to examine effective diagnostic and treatment pathways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in prison settings given the high prevalence of ADHD and…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine effective diagnostic and treatment pathways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in prison settings given the high prevalence of ADHD and comorbidities in the prison population.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies were carried out in two separate prisons in London. Firstly, data were collected to understand the prevalence of ADHD and the comorbidities. The second study used quality improvement (QI) methodology to assess the impact of a diagnostic and treatment pathway for prisoners with ADHD.

Findings

Of the prisoners, 22.5% met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Nearly half of them were screened positive for autistic traits, with a higher prevalence of mental disorders among prisoners with ADHD compared to those without. The QI project led to a significant increase in the number of prisoners identified as requiring ADHD assessment but a modest increase in the number of prisoners diagnosed or treated for ADHD.

Originality/value

Despite various challenges, an ADHD diagnostic and treatment pathway was set up in a prison using adapted QI methodology. Further research is needed to explore the feasibility of routine screening for ADHD in prison and examine at a national level the effectiveness of current ADHD prison pathways.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

Steven E. Abraham

The market’s reactions to six decisions that dealt with the employment‐at‐will doctrine were examined with event study methodology. Three hypotheses were tested, all three of…

Abstract

The market’s reactions to six decisions that dealt with the employment‐at‐will doctrine were examined with event study methodology. Three hypotheses were tested, all three of which were supported clearly by the data. Shareholder returns to a sample of California firms fell in response to the three California decisions that provided at‐will employees with causes of action to challenge their discharges; returns to those same firms rose in response to the Foley decision, which cut back on the employment‐at‐will erosions in California; and, returns to a sample of firms in New York rose in response to the two decisions from New York that affirmed the supremacy of the employment‐at‐will doctrine in New York. These results support the view that employment‐at‐will is beneficial for employers and that erosions to that doctrine are costly to employers.

Details

Managerial Law, vol. 46 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0558

Keywords

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