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To date, community pharmacy research has largely focused on the impact of service quality elements on patronage behavior. Investigation into the influence of cost and value is limited. The purpose of this study is to explore what is known about customers’ perceptions of cost and value, and how these influence patronage patterns in community pharmacy.

A scoping review framework was used to conduct a systematic search of four databases with the addition of articles sourced from reference lists. The database search was reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis: Extension for Scoping Reviews protocol. Studies were analyzed in terms of author name, date of publication, study location, study population, methods and key findings.

The 26 studies retrieved were qualitative or quantitative in nature and included a broad sample population. Both cost and value were found to be key factors influencing pharmacy choice. Pharmacy customers were found to perceive costs in terms of monetary, psychological, emotional and convenience-related sacrifices. Value was either perceived as relating to the worth or utility of a good or service, or in terms of a trade-off relationship between what was received and given up by the consumer.

A comprehensive interrogation into the true meaning of “value” to consumers is warranted to improve quantitative measurement instruments.

Pharmacies may attempt to influence customer behavior by minimizing unfixed costs to the consumer such as the price of goods and services and time costs.

This review highlights the need for academic enquiry into how consumers trade-off perceived costs for service in community pharmacy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how students in a Malaysian context, as a result of their experience of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) undergraduate teaching and learning experience in the subject of Marketing, perceive the knowledge, skills and competencies required of a practicing marketer and, conversely, what curriculum developers need to do if there is a “shortfall”.

Based on a total sample of a UG student population from an Accountancy, Finance and Business Faculty, the primarily descriptive, positivist, cross-sectional study used inferential statistics to measure the relationship between the four components of marketing knowledge, skills and competencies (the marketing mix, performance, social and emotional competencies, and responsible decision making).

Quantitative results revealed that all student perceptions of the requirements to be a “fit for purpose” marketer were highly correlated with requirements from the literature, subject benchmarks and practice with few exemptions.

The findings are based on one institution. Moreover, knowledge, skills and competency requirements by students’ level of study and practitioner experience may vary by type of HEI, organisation and geographic location.

Recommendations are made for curriculum development to address both employability and career development, particularly in terms of interdisciplinary co-operation and the teaching and learning of concepts.

Using the student perceptions of the requirements for being a practicing marketer, HEIs can adjust/add to their curriculum by comparing these to documented sources from academia and practice and by making any necessary adjustments by course of study.

The pre-purchase phase of consumer behaviour for financial services, especially retail banking, has been under-researched. This study explored the determinants of consumer pre-banking behaviour (BAB) in the Ghanaian banking sector.

A quantitative approach was employed by extending the constructs of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and technology acceptance model (TAM) to include affective and conative components and utilising a partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis.

Affective, conative, cognitive attitude, emotions and perceived trust (PT) were significant determinants of consumer pre-BAB. From a practical point of view, marketing managers need to be emotionally connected with their potential consumers to enhance the propensity of automatic purchasing.

The country context, sample type and size are limitations and so extending the study to other countries, with larger samples and additional insights on subjective norms (SNs), could help improve the model's efficacy.

The results presented in this paper are relevant and original because it is the only study, based on potential customers in an emergent economy context, to advocate the need for an emotional connection with potential consumers at the pre-banking stage to enhance the possibility of automatic purchasing.

To examine the incidence and prevalence rate of drug‐related complaints against police in the New South Wales Police Service (Australia) and compare these rates to officer demographics.

Seven years of complaints data (1993‐2000) are examined. The data showed that of nearly 40,000 complaints amounting to over 80,000 allegations, less than 2 percent relate to drug‐related allegations. These allegations were isolated and the pattern of officer demographics from these incidents were compared to the police service as a whole, with the aim of exploring if particular groups (such as length of service, age, gender etc.) were particularly susceptible to attracting drug‐related allegations.

The most common drug‐related allegation was for supplying drugs. The distribution of drug‐related complaints follows the general demographic pattern of officers in the police service, though female officers attracted fewer drug‐related allegations. Adverse findings, while rare, are most likely to be recorded against lower ranking police officers who have served less time in the police service.

The paper shows that demographics alone are not sufficient to identify officers at risk of being on the receiving end of a drug‐related complaint. The age, service and rank analysis conducted in this paper has not revealed any particular groups that are more susceptible to allegations of drugs misconduct. This paper therefore supports the idea that a more thorough early warning system tailored to individual officers may be necessary for an effective strategic complaints system.

With a pool of nearly 80,000 allegations to draw upon, the research employs one of the largest data sets ever examined. The findings are therefore sufficient to provide robust statistical comparisons, and are of interest to police practitioners, law enforcement managers, and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate similarities and differences between the UK and Malaysian undergraduates in terms of perceived social and emotional competencies (SEC), their effect on academic performance and to make recommendations on curriculum development or teaching and learning interventions to make students more SEC equipped for the “real” world.

This study employed a positivist approach via a survey instrument to measure the perceived SEC. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including standard multiple regression analyses, were used to test the hypotheses.

The analysis highlighted specifically, individual competencies (e.g. conscientiousness) rather than competency domains. Striking differences were observed between the two data sets, e.g. the regression analysis revealed that among the UK students, “Self-Awareness” domain and “Service Orientation” competency contributed uniquely to academic performance. However, no significant results were found for the Malaysian students.

Using GPA scores for performance measurement is complex which might have the potential to affect the accuracy of the comparative results.

The findings serve as a practical guide for education providers and employers which they could use to train young and inexperienced undergraduates and provides suggestions for education providers to “build in” specific intra- and interpersonal SEC in their assessment criteria and curriculum activities and modules.

The transnational comparison helps to add a new dimension to support the paucity of the SEC effect on academic performance and suggests which specific individual competencies and which competency cluster to emphasise in two different institutions and countries.

The present paper is intended as an exploration of the relevance of reversal theory for mentoring. In principle, reversal theory would appear to offer some major strengths in this respect and these strengths are discussed. Reversal theory itself is briefly described and, finally, implications for mentoring are discussed.

The purpose of the study is to provide empirical data on cases of drug‐related police corruption. It identifies and describes incidents in which police officers were arrested for criminal offenses associated with drug‐related corruption.

The study is a quantitative content analysis of news articles identified through the Google News search engine using 48 automated Google Alerts queries. Statistical analyses include classification trees to examine causal pathways between drugs and corruption.

Data were analyzed on 221 drug‐related arrest cases of officers employed by police agencies throughout the USA. Findings show that drug‐related corruption involves a wide range of criminal offenses, and that cocaine is the most prevalent drug. Older officers and those employed by large agencies are less likely than others to lose their jobs after a drug‐related arrest.

The study is limited by the quality of the available content in each case. The data are also limited to cases that involve an official arrest. Additionally, the data are the result of a filtering process that includes the exercise of media discretion as to types of news stories reported and the content devoted to particular news stories.

The data provide documentation of drug‐related corruption and the drug trade in 141 police agencies and the need for police executives to develop effective strategies to address it.

The study augments the few drug corruption studies published and is the only study known to describe drug‐related corruption at many police agencies across the USA.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate two areas of interest: first, to determine business student customer satisfiers that could be contributors to students’ current and predicted retention in a higher educational institution (HEI) and second, to use these satisfiers to inform HEI marketing planning.

The survey used 10 per cent of the sampling frame from the faculty total business students population. Descriptive statistics and correlation were employed to describe and measure the relationship between the teaching and non-teaching antecedents of student satisfaction and their five constructs (academic experience, teaching quality, campus life, facilities and placement support) and current and intended retention. Standard multiple regressions were run to measure the β and significant values of the composite variables as stated.

Quantitative results revealed that students were most satisfied with academic experience and it was also the most dominant predictor of students’ retention. Other elements such as quality teaching, facilities and internship, though important for student satisfaction, were not predictors of retention.

Findings based on one Malaysian institution could not be used as a representation of other institutions either locally or internationally.

Suggestions are made as to how HEIs can defend and safeguard their existing and future position by giving maximum attention to both “hard” and “soft” student satisfiers which would add customer value and strengthen their competitive position.

Based on teaching and non-teaching antecedents and constructs, enable HEIs to predict retention and so inform marketing planning in a highly competitive higher education environment.

With the realisation that it needed to enhance its leadership capability across Europe, SABMiller is working with Apter International to provide a highly innovative approach to management development and leadership. Central to its European Management Development Programme (EMDp) is the synergy that exists between the two organisations in terms of “brand consciousness”, but also crucially the creation of a “motivationally rich” learning environment. With the whole programme scientifically based on innovative new approaches arising from one of the world’s first comprehensive applications of reversal theory to the world of work, SABMiller is already benefiting from the shared expertise of a confident European leadership network focused beyond function to broader business needs.