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This paper aims to examine how product knowledge influences consumers to consider available information before choosing between organic and non-organic options. As “certified organic” is based on a complex standard in the USA, many consumers have only partial understanding of the term. This research shows how that knowledge influences consumer evaluation of the options presented in the market.

A two-study experimental survey that offers respondents a choice between two canned soups, one organic and one not, along with front- and back-of-label information which they can decide to use is utilized. The two studies differ in inclusion of national brand.

Consumer behavior with respect to information significantly affects rationale for product choice, and higher levels of knowledge are associated with choice rationale. Objective and subjective knowledge influence information processing differently. Inaccurate knowledge displayed by consumers influences their information processing behavior.

While the survey stimuli are a realistic representation of two products, the online survey abstracts from in-store distractors that might influence behavior. The product chosen, while familiar and commonly consumed, is a low-involvement product which may reduce consumer effort.

Marketers of organic foods must understand the level of knowledge held by consumers, as well as the information that most influences their choices if the industry is to grow further.

This study contrasts subjective and objective knowledge about organic foods and calculates the degree to which consumers under- versus over-estimate “organic” in their ignorance. As such, the research offers insight into a well-established label claim that has yet to achieve significant market share.

The purpose of this paper is to identify important elements of a strategy to facilitate small farmer participation in international supply chains for fresh produce.

The study employs survey data collected from a national sample of US fresh produce importers. Their concerns and suggestions regarding potential for transactions with small Mexican farmers were assessed, with factor analysis providing a thematic summary of their perspectives.

Results of the study reveal that US importers are not uniformly pessimistic about the ability of small farmers to meet their demands. On the contrary, almost one‐third said they probably would work with small farmers in the near future. In general, importers are interested in transactions in which the product meets consumer and government expectations and is grown on the buyer's terms, the grower is reliable over time, the transaction is simplified, and the grower handles transportation. Importers rate small farmers poorly on their ability to achieve the last two factors, but these are also the items rated least important to the importers. New approaches to building market capacity in small farmers are also highly valued by the importers, including government investment guarantees, and arrangements for facilitating contact between importers and growers. More traditional methods, such as cooperatives and use of brokers, were not rated as highly.

The study relies on cross‐sectional, self‐report data from one side of the grower/importer dyad. Incorporating longitudinal data with a dyadic perspective could provide additional insight.

A practitioner perspective on the challenges in international fruit and vegetable supply chains, particularly as relates to developing countries, is of considerable value. Not only can governments choose improved policies for improving market readiness for the growers, but also members of supply chains themselves can identify tactics for ensuring successful transactions by enhancing coordination. The prospects for a win‐win outcome for growers and importers are improved.

This study aims to examine the nature and impact of information overload and related coping strategies in the context of apparel shopping. It also examines perceptions of overload and coping strategies as antecedents to consumer confidence, shopping orientation and leader/follower status.

Focus groups and previous literature are used to develop components for a survey of US consumer perceptions. The 205 valid responses were factor analyzed to identify components of information overload and coping strategies, and cluster analysis was used to identify groupings of consumers around those constructs.

Consumer segments that result from cluster analysis show meaningful descriptions regarding information flow, over‐choice and coping strategies. Segments also differ on confidence level, shopping orientation and fashion leadership in ways that appear logically related to their information and coping strategy perspectives.

The study does not explore the underlying psychological and intellectual processes that influence attitude toward information flow and coping strategies.

By categorizing consumer attitudes toward and strategies for coping with too much information, the study offers the industry insight into how modern marketing strategies may backfire rather than create knowledgeable consumers ready to adopt the latest products made available to them.

This study is the first to view information overload and coping strategies as antecedents to confidence, shopper orientation and fashion leadership.

Coping and communication strategies affect how one perceives potentially stressful life events, such as infertility. Cognitive behavioral interventions (CBI) can reduce the distress related to undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of CBI on the coping and communication skills as well as perceived stress and depressive symptoms of women undergoing IVF treatment. The authors also explored the relationship between coping strategies and pregnancy rates.

The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial of CBI in 50 women undergoing IVF (NCT00685282).

The authors found that CBI was associated with reductions in active-confrontive coping among over 50 percent of participants, which was also found to be positively related to depressive symptoms. Furthermore, high meaning-based coping at baseline and high-avoidant coping at the end of IVF treatment were associated with increased pregnancy rates.

CBI can be helpful in reducing the perceived stress of women undergoing IVF; however, the adaptiveness of individual coping skills and communication skills vary. Since different coping strategies seem to be of benefit at different time points, further studies might benefit from the examination of engaging in context-dependent coping strategies.

Integrating mental health care on infertility units may assist in reducing the stress and thus quality of care in women undergoing IVF. Mental health care can be tailored to meet the individual needs of infertility patients based on their preferred coping strategies and communication style. Further research is needed to examine the cost benefit of reducing perceived stress in fertility patients.

Infertility is a social and medical problem that has vast implications on the mental health of individuals. Providing support along with practical tools for stress reduction and improved coping and communication can result in reduced stress and improved coping.

This paper examined the effect of a cognitive behavioral intervention on the coping strategies and communication skills of women undergoing IVF and can contribute to our understanding of the value of integrating mental health and medical care.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First to ascertain the efficacy of current police reception screening to detect detainees with intellectual disability (ID). Second to assess the validity of a short targeted screen for ID among police custody detainees.

The study comprised three stages. First, 248 police custody detainees were assessed for a range of health morbidities, including a pragmatic clinical evaluation of ID. For those with suspected ID, the police custody screens were scrutinised for evidence that this had been detected. Second, a new police health screen, incorporating a short screen for ID, was piloted. Totally, 351 detainees were assessed in the same way as in part 1 with the new screens being scrutinised for evidence that ID had been detected where relevant. Third, the new police screen for ID was validated among a sample of 64 inpatients, some with ID and some without, from forensic inpatient services. Parts 1 and 2 were carried out in the Metropolitan Police Service, London. Part 3 took place in one NHS Trust.

In parts 1 and 2, the rate of detainees with suspected ID was 2-3 per cent. The standard police screen detected 25 per cent of these detainees in part 1. When the new screen was introduced in part 2, the sensitivity for ID increased to 83 per cent. However, there was no requisite improvement in the proportion of detainees with ID receiving an Appropriate Adult. In the inpatient study, the new screen showed a good level of sensitivity (91 per cent) and reasonable specificity (63 per cent).

It is possible to improve the detection rate of detainees with suspected ID by introducing a short ID screen into the police custody officers’ reception health screen.

The Health Screening of People in Police Custody (HELP-PC) study is a project evaluating screening for health morbidity among police custody detainees. Other data from this study have been reported elsewhere, but this is the first time the data pertaining to ID screening has been reported in detail.

The drive towards clinical effectiveness and cost‐effective care within the NHS is becoming increasingly apparent. Consequently, there is a need to change clinical practice, and a set of activities with which to implement the necessary and desirable changes is required. Resistance to accepting change at an individual and organisational level is common and it is postulated that the solution lies in adopting an eclectic approach where the range of factors affecting the implementation of change is considered. A possible framework for identifying suitable behaviour change strategies is proposed. Factors included are the context of change, the relevant theoretical and empirical literature and the implementation and maintenance of change. With practical application in mind, the framework is intended as a tool to assist health care professionals analyse the change process in a structured manner and develop potential strategies for achieving desirable behaviour changes within their own and others’ practice.

The objective of this paper is to identify the change model being used by a UK bank to implement and embed a major regulatory‐driven initiative (the Basle Capital Accord) into it is business operations.

A naturalistic paradigm was adopted for this research although an element of triangulation was incorporated.

This critical change management initiative was started at a relatively benign time in the business world. The consequences are a warning to current organisations that if they do not address basic project and change management principles, these issues will not have any chance of assimilation within their firms.

The key limitations of the paper are that it focused on one particular change initiative within a single organisation, driven by one particular senior management team. As a result, the informal change model identified will not necessarily reflect the informal change model being used in other functional areas of Bank “A”.

Although this paper was undertaken at an organisation at the centre of the banking crisis in the UK, it is important to highlight that the study commenced prior to the evolution of the current UK banking crisis.

The study's main goal is to investigate different leadership styles that characterize middle-level leaders, the intermediate leadership tier of role holders in school, as they practice leadership scenarios through active participation in a professional learning process of role-play simulation, using a social-ecological approach.

Thirty middle-level leaders from different Israeli high schools and districts participated in the study during an M.A. course in an educational leadership program. The authors used qualitative analysis to examine role-play simulations of leadership scenarios based on group debriefings. This content analysis was conducted within a two-dimensional theoretical framework composed of leadership style theory and a social-ecological model.

The study findings address four main leadership styles: authentic, transformational, participative and transactional. Regarding their appearance within different social-ecological layers, the interpersonal layer was the most salient one with a prominent appearance of transformational and authentic leadership styles. On the organizational and communal layers, authentic leadership was more prominent. The study findings demonstrate multidimensionality in both the leadership styles and social-ecological layers, as different styles appeared in different layers concurrently.

The findings may help articulate the nature and characteristics of middle-level school leadership. They may also provide relevant theoretical content and instructional strategy to develop simulation-based preparation programs for middle-level leaders.

The study findings highlight unique leadership characteristics of middle-level school leaders and suggest a contextual perception of their leadership styles within a social-ecological framework.

This study sought to evaluate the impact and sustainability of the Leading Empowered Organisations (LEO) programme on the role of G Grade Nurse Managers, their colleagues and therefore on patient care at CHS.

A qualitative, inductive research methodology, which employed 360‐degree research evaluation, was used. A purposive sample of four G Grade Nurse Managers was included. Each G Grade and eight of each of their colleagues were interviewed. Data were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis.

There was evidence of a sustained impact of the LEO programme on G Grade Nurse Managers in relation to competence, action plans, delegation, communication strategies, problem solving, risk taking, leadership and management. The study also revealed a number of significant personal and contextual factors that affected the implementation of the LEO principles. Empowerment, or a lack of it, underpinned much of what occurred in the implementation of the LEO principles by the G Grades into practice.

The findings indicated that both organisational and individual action is necessary to achieve leadership development. Organisations need to ensure that investment in leadership is not restricted to the LEO programme, but that it becomes a strategic priority.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of internal resource drivers on internationalization of commercial banks.

Panel data on 46 Indian commercial banks from 2008 to 2012 were collected from secondary sources to measure how assets size, human resources, branding and advertising, ownership and age influence the international diversification of the commercial bank. Internationalization of the commercial bank was measured in terms of international advances intensity, international borrowing intensity and number of countries served. Regression models were designed with controlled multicolinearity, heterogeneity and exogeneity.

Higher assets’ size, higher human resources, private ownership and higher organizational age led to internationalization of Indian commercial banks. However, higher branding and advertisement expenses and state ownership were found to be negatively related to international diversification.

Internationalization is one of the growth strategies of a firm which cannot be unified and generalized due to resource heterogeneity. So this necessitates a large number of studies sector-wise, sub-sector-wise, product-wise, industry-wise and region-wise. There is a dearth of literature on resource view of internationalization of commercial banks. So, this Indian study adds a new finding on resource-based view of internationalization to the existing body of knowledge.