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The purpose of this paper is to identify the operational and management challenges in a globally budgeted, regionalized healthcare system and their implications for public service.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the operational and management challenges in a globally budgeted, regionalized healthcare system and their implications for public service.
Design/methodology/approach
Concentrating on British Columbia’s regional health authorities (RHAs) and hospitals, this study utilized data from interviews of key informants, documents (histories, legislation, agreements between RHAs and provincial government, and RHA organizational charts), news reports, and participant observation at board meetings.
Findings
Challenges encountered by the managers include accommodating powerful stakeholders (elected officials, providers, and organized publics), adhering to fixed budgets, obtaining capital from public sources, and adjusting to government turnover. In response, the managers engage in balancing priorities of stakeholders, shifting of resources within and across sites and operating units, and working strategically with the capital allocation process. Responses of managers to these challenges have promoted stability but raise concerns about attaining the system’s goals.
Practical implications
Management challenges and potential patterns of response should be considered in assessing the options for health system reforms. Many countries periodically reorganize their healthcare systems, and recognition of potential management challenges can contribute to the achievement of objectives sought in these reforms.
Originality/value
Although studies have demonstrated that management affects the implementation of public programs in several areas, little research has focused on the relationships between features of health systems, management responses, and potential outcomes.
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States that the level of consumer involvement in a product category is a major variable relevant to advertising strategy. Suggests product category is often segmented by the level…
Abstract
States that the level of consumer involvement in a product category is a major variable relevant to advertising strategy. Suggests product category is often segmented by the level of consumer involvement; however, consumers are rarely segmented. Points out that different involvement clusters have different responses to advertising effectiveness for the same product. Presents a case study segmenting a market using the consumer involvement degree, exploring the characteristics in order to determine the relationship between advertising effectiveness and the level of consumer involvement. Shows results suggesting that a high degree of consumer involvement directed a high advertising effect and is therefore an important indication for advertising strategy.
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TO all our readers we can wish a happy and prosperous New Year with greater confidence than usual that the coming months will translate the familiar hope into reality. The reason…
Abstract
TO all our readers we can wish a happy and prosperous New Year with greater confidence than usual that the coming months will translate the familiar hope into reality. The reason for that optimism is National Productivity Year. There is growing evidence that the public understands and appreciates its central theme. Naturally the official Guildhall opening attracted wide publicity. Since then it has been reinforced through the addresses given by prominent personalities at meetings up and down the country; meetings which will continue and build up a favourable climate in industry.
Claims that effective price communication for services requires understanding variables thatmediate the effects of price and the cognitive systems consumers use to process price…
Abstract
Claims that effective price communication for services requires understanding variables that mediate the effects of price and the cognitive systems consumers use to process price information. Presents a model which indicates that involvement and source credibility mediate the effects of price. Discusses the heuristic and analytic cognitive systems which consumers could use to process price information. The article also reports the results of an experiment which tested the model, and discusses the managerial implications of the model.
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Tom Schultheiss, Lorraine Hartline, Phyllis Rosenstock, Jean Mandeberg and Sue Stern
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…
Abstract
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.
D. Larry Crumbley and Eugene Fliedner
Most business schools use student evaluation of teaching (SET) survey data for promotion, tenure, and merit decision‐making purposes. Since most SET questionnaires focus on…
Abstract
Most business schools use student evaluation of teaching (SET) survey data for promotion, tenure, and merit decision‐making purposes. Since most SET questionnaires focus on students’ perceptions of an instructor rather than learning, there may be an incentive for instructors to resort to dysfunctional behavior in order to manipulate SET scores. The purpose of this article is to report the results of a survey designed to determine if such behavior occurs from an administrative viewpoint. A total of 773 administrative accounting professors were surveyed, with a response rate of 45.3 per cent. Although most administrators believe that a single numerical measure cannot capture all relevant evaluative data, they do believe that SET has caused grade inflation and they are dissatisfied with their current SET system. However, the majority of administrators would not replace the current evaluation system with an alternative evaluation system.
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Marcel Bastiaansen, Xander Dennis Lub, Ondrej Mitas, Timothy Hyungsoo Jung, Mário Passos Ascenção, Dai-In Han, Teemu Moilanen, Bert Smit and Wim Strijbosch
This paper aims to stimulate the discussion in the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure on what exactly constitutes “an experience” and how to measure it; the authors unpack…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to stimulate the discussion in the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure on what exactly constitutes “an experience” and how to measure it; the authors unpack the experience construct into its core constituent elements, namely, emotions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience that define experiences as a fine-grained temporal succession of emotions that occur during an experiential episode. Limitations of current methods for measuring experiences are discussed, after which biometric and neuroscientific methods are reviewed that are optimally geared toward measuring emotions, as they occur during an experience with fine temporal detail.
Findings
An overview is presented of the available studies within the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure that use these methodologies. These studies show that using these methodologies provides a fruitful methodological approach to measuring experiences in real time.
Practical implications
Companies are constantly seeking to create memorable experiences for their customers. The proposed research methodologies allow companies to get a more fine-grained image of what impacts customers over the course of their experience and to actively integrate the use of emotions into creating experiences, as emotions are key to making them memorable.
Originality/value
The paper sketches the contours of a rapidly emerging framework that unpacks memorable experiences into their constituent element – emotions. It is proposed that this will contribute to a deeper understanding of how consumers experience offerings in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry.
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Joel Espejel, Carmina Fandos and Carlos Flavián
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the moderating effect of consumer involvement level in the influence exerted by perceived quality on consumer perceived risk, trust…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the moderating effect of consumer involvement level in the influence exerted by perceived quality on consumer perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty. The paper seeks to conduct this analysis for a protected designation of origin (PDO) food product, the cured ham “Jamón de Teruel”. This analysis aims to distinguish perceived quality in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of PDO.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire. Specifically, consumers were asked to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements based on a seven‐point Likert scale. After completion of fieldwork, an analytic process (exploratory and confirmatory reliability analysis) was performed to obtain 441 valid questionnaires. A multi‐sample model was applied to analyse the effect level of consumer involvement in the proposed model.
Findings
The results suggest that the influence of quality attributes on consumers' perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty is substantially different between consumers with a high involvement level and consumers with low involvement. In addition, substantial differences were also found in the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes on the model being analysed. The results of the analysis show that for the group of highly involved consumers the influence of both intrinsic and extrinsic perceived quality on the consumers' loyalty level is clearly higher.
Practical implications
Managers of PDO food products need to understand how consumer involvement level regarding their products influences consumers' decision‐making processes. Thus, PDO managers should take advantage of the situation that those highly involved consumers in this kind of product are more receptive to their advertisements. Moreover, promotion of PDO food products based on the quality, tradition and know‐how of certain brands may make the consumer reach higher attention levels in an easier manner, so that their loyalty levels towards the brands will be reinforced.
Originality/value
The paper analyses the moderating effect of consumer involvement of a traditional PDO food product. There is a lack of literature that focuses on the influence of consumer involvement of food products in consumer behaviour patterns. The paper tries to advance this important research line.
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Ines Conrad, Sandra Dietrich, Dirk Heider, Anne Blume, Matthias C. Angermeyer and Steffi Riedel‐Heller
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the health‐promoting and stigma‐reducing effect of the German school‐based programme “Crazy? So what!”.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the health‐promoting and stigma‐reducing effect of the German school‐based programme “Crazy? So what!”.
Design/methodology/approach
A quasi‐experimental longitudinal control‐study was carried out with assessments one week prior to the school programme, immediately after it and three months later. A total of 210 Year 9 and 10 students (aged 13‐18 years) were surveyed in four schools in Saxony, Germany. Data analysis was done descriptively based on frequency distributions. Random effects regression models for unbalanced panel data were used to estimate the change of the outcome variables over time.
Findings
At baseline, only 5.2 per cent of the intervention group would talk with their teacher about a mental health problem. Immediately after the programme, this number increased to 10.6 per cent and after three months to 17.9 per cent. There was also a positive, short‐term effect on students' social distance, i.e. an increase in positive attitudes towards those with a mental illness, but this was not sustained over time. By contrast, self‐efficacy proved resistant to change.
Originality/value
This school programme is successful in that the “experts on their own behalf” (young people, who have gone through mental illness) were able to encourage and reassure others on how to face a mental health crisis with more confidence, which also contributes to strengthening students' resilience. The results of this study indicate the importance of sensitising children and youth, but also teachers and other adults to mental health.
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Chanho Song, Tuo Wang and Michael Y. Hu
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how referral reward programs (RRPs) with scarcity messages influence consumer’ recommendation behavioral intentions about a bank credit…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how referral reward programs (RRPs) with scarcity messages influence consumer’ recommendation behavioral intentions about a bank credit card.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 1,599 consumers are accessed through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk worker panel. The authors use general linear models, analysis of variance and analysis of covariance to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The results showed that offering RRPs with scarcity messages increases a consumer’s behavioral intentions to recommend. The limited-quantity message in RRPs has the highest positive impact on consumers’ behavioral intentions.
Originality/value
No prior studies have addressed the relationship between referral rewards and scarcity messages in the bank credit card context. The study contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness of RRPs with scarcity message in improving consumer’s referral.
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