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The purpose of this paper is to present an experimental study which aims at assessing the potentially misleading effect of graphic elements on food packaging. The authors call these elements potentially misleading elements (PMEs) as they can give customers false expectations. They are either highlighted numerical information (30 per cent fibre, 8 per cent fat, 100 per cent natural […]) or pictorial information with no relation to the product (e.g. images of happy people).

In a combined decision task monitored by eye-tracking and a subsequence survey, the authors tested the impact of PMEs on common products. Combining different pairs of products, where one product had a PME, whereas the other did not, the authors could evaluate if preference correlated with the presence of a PME.

The authors found both types of PMEs to have analogous effects on participants’ preferences and correlate with participants’ visual attention. The authors also found evidence for a positive influence on a later explicit justification for the specific choice.

This study was conducted in a lab environment and solely related to health-related decisions. The authors still need to know if these findings are transferable to real in-store decisions and other needs such as high quality or low price. This calls for further research.

The topic is important for food companies, and it might become a priority in managing brand equity, combining consumer preferences, loyalty and communicative fairness.

Using eye-tracking and retrospective interviews brings new insights to consumer’s decision-making and how misleading potentially occurs.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/14664100010351297. When citing the article, please cite: Wally R. Smith, J. James Cotter, Donna K. McClish, Viktor E. Bovbjerg, Louis F. Rossiter, (2000), “Access, satisfaction, and utilization in two forms of Medicaid managed care”, British Journal of Clinical Governance, Vol. 5 Iss 3 pp. 150 - 157.

The purpose of this study is to improve our understanding of bracketing, one of the most central philosophical and theoretical constructs of phenomenology, as a theory of mind. Furthermore, we wanted to showcase how this theoretical construct can be implemented as a methodological tool.

In this study we have adopted an approach similar to a qualitative meta-synthesis, comparing the emergent patterns of two empirical projects, seeking synergies and contradictions and looking for additional insights from new emerging patterns.

On a philosophical level, we have found that bracketing, as a theoretical construct, is not about the achievement of objectivity; quite to the contrary, it embraces subjectivity and puts it centre-stage. On a theoretical level, we have achieved a better understanding of Husserl's phenomenology, as a theory of mind. On a methodological level, we have achieved a powerful way of supplementing and/or clarifying research findings, by using a theoretical construct as a methodological tool.

Our paper contributes to the phenomenology literature at a philosophical, theoretical and methodological level, by offering a better understanding and a novel implementation of one of the central theoretical constructs of phenomenology.

By providing equal weight to buyers and sellers, the purpose of this paper is to enhance our understanding of the determinants underlying successful mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving a specific segment of firms involved in such undertakings, i.e., knowledge-intensive innovative and entrepreneurial (KIE) firms.

A multiple case study, based on eight semi-structured interviews with CEOs representing acquirers and the acquired firms, investigates the focal phenomenon this study addresses.

The results suggest that knowledge-intensive, innovative and entrepreneurial firms promote entrepreneurial intentions and allow value creation of M&As through four overarching measures. These are buyer–seller fit, aligned incentives, long-term thinking and perpetual alliance.

The outcomes of this research may have limited generalizable due to the chosen research methodology. Therefore, this study recommends future studies testing the validity of these findings.

The authors have clarified the drawbacks of integration when being involved in M&As with KIE firms. These drawbacks primarily revolved around not eliminating the entrepreneurs’ autonomy and their routines, but it is also partly related to letting them keep their identity (i.e. their brand) as well as retaining employees’ trust in the new owner.

Contrary to most papers, this study has taken an approach giving equal weight to both buyers and sellers. In doing so, this study clarified the drawbacks of integration when it involves M&As with KIE firms.

The purpose of the research is to gain an understanding about how stock market investors impact various behavioural personality traits in various consumer groups with differing levels of motivation and capacity to absorb emerging stock market data.

The research has used structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the validity of the theoretical model.

The current paper is the first study that uses stock market data from an emerging economy to examine the relationship between stock market investment and different behavioural patterns such as stock market attachment, trust, satisfaction and loyalty. The authors observe the presence of direct positive relationships between stock market investment and different behavioural personality traits. Moreover, the authors also observe that stock market attachment can be seen as an intermediary variable between stock investment involvement and satisfaction. The empirical findings also suggest the presence of indirect relationships between stock investment involvement and satisfaction and between stock market attachment and loyalty. The authors find that the indirect relationship between stock market attachment and loyalty occurs when the level of satisfaction is higher. Therefore, satisfaction appears to facilitate the relationship between stock market attachment and loyalty.

One major limitation of the study is data availability. More specifically, the study was conducted with customers of eight different banks in the province of Eskisehir, Turkey. From the 250 questionnaires distributed, 173 were returned, yielding a response rate of 69.2%.

By identifying the trait characteristics of segments of stock market participants relative to their propensity to invest in stocks, it is possible to tailor messages that influence people to invest for the long term.

The paper deploys stock market data from an emerging economy to investigate the relationship between stock market investment and different surface traits such as stock market attachment, trust, satisfaction and loyalty. To the best of the authors' knowledge the current paper is the first such study.

This study aims to explore the involvement of middle management in forming strategies to manage variable acute patient flows at a hospital.

Empirical evidence from a university hospital was gathered via interviews, internal documents, observation and participation in meetings. The role of middle management in the development of strategies was analyzed using literature on middle management involvement.

In managing variable acute patient flows, middle management adopts a number of roles and behavioral characteristics that have been previously described in research. The role of facilitator is the most prominent, with middle managers prioritizing individual goals and strategies for the clinical departments that they manage before their collective responsibility for hospital performance. Unclear responsibilities and mandates within the organization, together with a lack of hospital-wide strategies concerning how the acute patient flow should be managed, are contributing factors to this behavior.

The research is based on an explorative, single case study methodology. Future research assessing the extent of different middle management roles in health care, in which more empirical data and quantitative analysis is conducted, is encouraged.

There is a need for top management to establish long-term goals to enhance middle management roles when developing strategies for managing variable patient flows.

Middle management involvement in developing strategies for managing variable patient flows is a novel topic for research. The interface and division of tasks between top and middle management is crucial for successful strategies in managing variable patient flows.

We determined access and satisfaction of 2,598 recipients of Virginia’s Medicaid program, comparing its health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to its primary care case management (PCCM) program. Positive responses were summed as sub‐domains either of access, satisfaction, or of utilization, and adjusted odds ratios were calculated for HMO (vs. PCCM) sub‐domain scores. The response rate was 47 per cent. We found few significant differences in perceived access, satisfaction, and utilization. Both HMO adults and children more often perceived good geographic access (adults, OR, [CI] = 1.50, [1.04‐2.16]; children, OR, [CI] = 1.773 [1.158, 2.716]). But HMO patients less often reported good after‐hours access (adults, OR, [CI] = 0.527 [0.335, 0.830]; children, OR, [CI] = 0.583 [0.380, 0.894]). Among all patients reporting poorer function, HMO patients more often reported good general and preventive care (OR, [CI] = 2.735 [1.138, 6.575]). We found some differences between Medicaid HMO versus PCCM recipients’ reported access, satisfaction, and utilization, but were unable to validate concerns about access and quality under more restrictive forms of Medicaid managed care.

In this paper we propose a new method for the creation of subject bibliographies. Our method consists of two phases: first, the raw bibliographical material is downloaded from an online bibliographical database (e.g. DIALOG), and then this material is processed using knowledge‐based means. We apply a meta‐programming approach in which the raw bibliographic material is viewed as a logic program upon which we develop a second‐order logic program. The second‐order program creates the subject bibliography by operating a rule base and the first‐order logic program. The entire system, named REX, was written in PROLOG and used to create automatically a subject bibliography on Applications of Logic Programming in Decision and Control.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.