Measuring national economic performance without using prices

Recent years have seen increasing awareness of the deficiencies of conventionally defined national income as a measure of a nation's overall economic performance. Alternative measures have been proposed involving either the modification of national income accounting conventions, or the abandonment of national income itself in favour of something such as the Genuine Progress Indicator, GPI. However, such alternatives, like national income itself, all involve the use of monetary valuation for aggregation. This paper proposes a new approach to the measurement of national economic performance, which follows naturally from ecological economics as the study of economic activity rooted in a proper appreciation of its material circumstances, and which does not involve using prices for aggregation. The paper gives some results for three variants of the new approach, and compares and discusses them. While this new approach does not purport to provide a single definitive assessment of the sustainability of current economic activity, which is an infeasible goal, it could provide useful inputs to relevant research activity, and to policy analysis and debate.     

试述中小企业薪酬战略中的三种公平

薪酬的公平性是影响企业员工工作满意度的重要衡量维度。文章应用亚当斯的公平理论对企业薪酬结构中的三种公平的研究,分析员工行为反应,及其对企业生产效率和利益的影响,进而提出如何实现企业薪酬体系的公平性,对现实有一定的指导意义。     

Flexibility in industrial service relationships: The construct, antecedents, and performance outcomes

Exchanges between service providers and their customers on business markets increasingly take place in the form of long-term business relationships. These relationships are governed through formal or informal agreements. However, actors are bounded in their rationality and find it impossible to contemplate all possible future contingencies. The more formal and detailed the contracts they conclude, the likelier it becomes that at least one actor is going to perceive a need to adjust the initial agreement as environmental events unfold. In this case, the actor relies upon his partner's flexibility. This paper deals with service providers' flexibility and presents empirical results from the market research sector including outcome variables (satisfaction, trust, commitment) and determinants of service provider flexibility (uncertainty, relationship-specific investments, mutuality, long-term orientation). Empirical results suggest that service provider flexibility is an important determinant of customer satisfaction, trust, and commitment.     

基于CRM理念的铁路大客户满意度指数模型

将客户关系管理(CRM)的满意度理论引入铁路运输的大客户管理中,定义了铁路大客户满意度,结合铁路货物运输的特点构建了铁路大客户满意度指数模型,并采用偏最小二乘法路径分析方法对参数进行估计。最后通过实例对目前铁路大客户的满意度进行了研究。     

Cultural influences on consumer satisfaction with impulse and planned purchase decisions

This study examines factors thought to influence consumers' planned and impulse purchase decisions including subjective culture (individualist or collectivist consumers) and the presence of another person at the time of purchase. Data was collected in four countries — the USA, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia. The results indicate that overall, consumers are differentially influenced by others in planned and impulse purchase situations, even after controlling for price. These differential influences can be explained by culture. Compared to more individualist consumers, more collectivist consumers are likely to be more satisfied with an impulse purchase when another person is present at the time of purchase.     

The rise of the grocerant: Patrons’ in-store dining experiences and consumption behaviors at grocery retail stores

Grocerants (grocery retail store + restaurant) represent a rising retail sector in the foodservice industry. The grocerant business model transforms a space of everyday mundanity (grocery retail shopping) into one of experiential value, offering consumers a social space to linger, dine, and seek nourishment all within the same commercial premise. To this end, grocerants represent an experientially driven consumption segment, a fertile context worthy of exploration yet understudied. Informed theoretically by the brand experience model, this study explored the role of grocerant patrons’ product experiences, in conjunction with the variables of need for uniqueness, product satisfaction, product involvement, price-quality schema, and behavioral intentions. A quantitative approach and a field survey method were employed, and analyses confirmed the effectiveness of the higher-order structure of product experiences (sensory, affective, behavioral, intellectual, and escapism). In addition, satisfaction, involvement, and need for uniqueness were confirmed as contributors to building favorable behavioral intentions. The link between involvement and intention was also influenced significantly by price-quality schema, and satisfaction and involvement were accounted as critical mediators. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

Assessing customers’ perceived value of the online channel of multichannel retailers: A two country examination

Given the constant and often dramatic technological advancements that facilitate retailing, especially online channel adoption by industry and customers, research focusing on customers perceived value of the online channel of multi-channel retailer’s requires conceptual and empirical elaboration. This study advances understanding of customer perceived online channel value and how customer perceptions of value effect online channel satisfaction and online channel loyalty. Using data from a multi-country study, we provide a deeper understanding for multi-channel retailers of how to balance investments in various value drivers to enhance online channel satisfaction and customer loyalty.     

Sources of satisfaction with luxury hotels for new,repeat, and frequent travelers: A PLS impact-asymmetry analysis

There are differences in service expectations according to travelers' experiences. This study aims to identify the structure of service quality factors with regard to satisfaction with luxury hotels concerned with new, repeat, and frequent travelers to Macau. The data are analyzed by a partial least squares (PLS) impact-asymmetry analysis in order to explain how the structure of factors can influence the behaviors of three visitor segments. The results of this study explore the transformation of the factor structure of customer satisfaction across different experiences encountered. This study contributes to the knowledge of life cycle theories using three-factor theories that position most of the quality attributes in the introduction stage as excitement factors; they show various types of factors in a growth stage, and they unify to performance factors when the products and services mature. Thus, asymmetrical analyses are highly appropriate for studying customer behavior throughout the customer life cycle.     

Influence of sustainable hospitality supply chain management on customers’ attitudes and behaviors

This study aims to identify the impact of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management actions on customers’ attitudes and behaviors including satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services utilizing data collected from U.S. consumers who frequently stay at hotels. Findings suggest that while both environmental and economic dimensions’ actions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management have positive influences on customer satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services, the social dimension actions are found to have a positive influence on customer satisfaction and a negative influence on customer willingness to pay a premium. Results also indicate that customer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between social dimension actions and customer loyalty. In addition, customer satisfaction positively influences customer loyalty, which ultimately increases customer willingness to pay a premium. The implications of the research findings are provided.     

Tourist loyalty to a local cultural event: The case of Turkmen handicrafts festival

The purpose of this research was to examine a comprehensive model of attendee loyalty at a local festival. More specifically, the research tested a model linking festival authenticity to festival quality, value, satisfaction, trust and loyalty to a given festival. Using convenience sampling method, empirical data was collected at the Turkmen handicrafts festival in Gonbad-e-Kavoos, the most important city in the Turkmen Sahra region, Iran. A sample of 301 domestic tourists who attended the festival was surveyed. Applying structural equation modeling, the findings showed that perceived authenticity influenced perceived quality, value and satisfaction. Perceived quality was found to have the direct effect on perceived value, satisfaction and trust. Perceived value affected satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Satisfaction had the direct effect on loyalty and so did trust.