Make it Your Own: How Process Valence and Self‐Construal Affect Evaluation of Self‐Made Products

Self‐production, participation of consumers in the production process of products for their own consumption, leads to consumers’ enhanced evaluations of the self‐made products. Three experimental studies investigate how and why self‐production affects consumers’ product evaluations and reveal that not all production experiences create additional value for all consumers. In particular, Studies 1 and 2, using hypothetical stories and real experiences, show that only positive (vs. negative) production experiences enhance evaluations of self‐made products over products made by others. Positive (but not negative) experiences decrease the psychological distance between the self and the product and strengthen identification with it. Study 3 manipulates self‐construal (independent vs. interdependent) to investigate its role on evaluation of self‐made products and products made with close others as a group (i.e., group‐made). Consumers with independent self‐construal evaluate self‐made (vs. other‐made) products more favorably only if the process is positive. However, consumers with interdependent self‐construal evaluate self‐made products more favorably even if the process is negative. Additionally, consumers with interdependent (vs. independent) self‐construal exhibit more favorable evaluation of group‐made products. Finally, even if consumers know how another person feels while making a product, other people's process emotions do not affect consumers’ product judgments as strongly as their own experienced process emotions.     

Consumer participation in the design and realization stages of production: How self-production shapes consumer evaluations and relationships to products

Psychological responses of consumers to specific stages of self-production activities are investigated in four studies. Findings reveal that consumer participation in the realization stage (physical production) enhances affective commitment to the product. However, physical production without opportunity to express choice or creativity during the production process does not change the symbolic meaning of the product (how self-expressive it is) and, therefore, does not result in identification with the product. Participation during the design stage (input-specification) enhances identification, leading to affective commitment, which in turn enhances evaluation of the self-made product. Finally, engaging consumers in both the realization and design stages of the production process does not create value for consumers over and above the main effects created by a high level of participation in either stage.     

Evaluation of a patient self-directed mealtime insulin titration algorithm: a US payer perspective

Objective To model the potential economic impact of implementing the AUTONOMY once daily (Q1D) patient self-titration mealtime insulin dosing algorithm vs standard of care (SOC) among a population of patients with Type 2 diabetes living in the US.

Methods Three validated models were used in this analysis: The Treatment Transitions Model (TTM) was used to generate the primary results, while both the Archimedes (AM) and IMS Core Diabetes Models (IMS) were used to test the veracity of the primary results produced by TTM. Models used data from a ‘real world’ representative sample of patients (2012 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) that matched the characteristics of US patients enrolled in the randomized controlled trial ‘AUTONOMY’ cohort. The base-case time horizon was 10 years.

Results The modeling results from TTM demonstrated that total costs in the base-case were reduced by $1732, with savings predicted to occur as early as year 1. Results from the three models were consistent, showing a reduction in total costs for all sensitivity analyses.

Limitations Data from short-term clinical trials were used to develop long-term projections. The nature of such extrapolation leads to increased uncertainty.

Conclusion The results from all three models indicate that the AUTONOMY Q1D algorithm has the potential to abate total costs as early as the first year.     

Communication Behaviors to Implement Innovations: How Do AEC Teams Communicate in IPD Projects?

Implementing any innovation successfully is a challenge. In addition to commonly reported climate and values‐fit constructs, this study proposes that communication behaviors (i.e., monitoring, challenging, managing, and negotiating) are also vital for innovation implementation. Via an in‐depth literature review, the study first defines these metrics. Second, a content analysis of an integrated project delivery (IPD) case study report enables the study to explore if these communication behaviors exist in inter‐organizational architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) project teams. Results provide four key communication metrics for innovation implementation, supported by evidence and examples that illustrate these metrics in AEC teams implementing IPD as an innovation.     

Economic outcomes with the conversion of insulin delivery methods in hospitals

Purpose: To evaluate the insulin wastage and associated acquisition costs when switching from individual patient supply (IPS) of 3-mL pens of rapid-acting insulin (RAI) aspart to floor stock (FS) dispensing of 3-mL vials of RAI lispro, and with conversion from IPS of 3-mL pens to centralized unit dose (CUD) of 10-mL vials of basal insulin detemir.

Methods: Data from September 2010 to December 2012 from three hospitals in the Roper St. Francis Healthcare (RSFH) were used: Roper Hospital (368 beds), Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital (204 beds), and Roper St. Francis Mt. Pleasant Hospital (85 beds). Insulin wastage and associated acquisition costs were estimated using regression models.

Results: The conversion from IPS of 3-mL pens of insulin aspart to FS of 3-mL vials of lispro was associated with a significant decrease in insulin wastage (204,042 IUs; p?p?p?p?Conclusions: Switching RAI from IPS of 3-mL pens of insulin aspart to one-time unit dose insulin lispro dispensed from FS 3-mL vials as needed significantly reduced insulin wastage and associated acquisition costs at the three combined hospitals. Conversion of basal insulin from IPS of 3-mL pens of insulin detemir to CUD of 10-mL vials of insulin detemir was associated with a significant reduction in insulin wastage and associated acquisition costs at three hospitals combined.     

Consumer response to product construction: the role of haptic stimulation

This study investigates how consumers are affected by haptic information, that is, the information acquired through the sense of touch, when they take part in the construction or assembly of a product. In order to create value for consumers, marketers must understand how and why haptic information affects the evaluative processes of consumers and whether there are specific segments that are affected differentially by the process. An experimental design with two between‐subjects factors was used to examine consumers' responses to haptic stimulation during the physical construction of a picture frame. The results demonstrate that positive haptic stimulation evoked by the materials used in the product's construction results in an affective response and creates emotional attachment to the finished product. However, the effect is not generalizable to the general population. It depends on the level of autotelic (not functional) need for touch (NFT) that the consumer has. Consumers who have high autotelic NFT are more likely to become attached to and, consequently, enhance their evaluation of the finished product when the product materials used during the construction evoke a positive haptic stimulation.     

State Dependence in Welfare Benefits in a Non-Welfare Context

This study investigates state dependence in social assistance benefits in Turkey, where benefit receipt and persistence rates have significantly increased over the past decade. We estimate state dependence through dynamic random-effects probit models, controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity, and endogenous initial conditions. In particular, we employ Wooldridge’s estimator to achieve consistent and correct estimates of state dependence and compare the results with estimates from Heckman’s reduced-form approach as a sensitivity check. Both estimators enable us to disentangle true state dependence from its spurious components and address the potential bias due to the short panel length. Our results suggest that the receipt of benefits in the last year increases the likelihood of benefit receipt in the current year, namely the structural state dependence, by 17.2–19.5 percentage points.     

An Inquiry to Move an Underutilized Best Practice Forward: Barriers to Partnering in the Architecture,Engineering, and Construction Industry

There is an obvious need in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry for improved project team integration through project delivery to ensure improved project outcomes. The literature reports that, among other methods, project partnering, when followed successfully, provides a great opportunity to improve project performance via improved collaboration among key project stakeholders (e.g., owner, designer, contractor) and reduce claims as a result while letting all project members stay in their traditional roles and work under any contractual framework, including design‐bid‐build. Despite its potential and history in the United States since the late 1980s and being classified as one of the best practices by the Construction Industry Institute in 1996, partnering continues to be underutilized. Existing research on partnering is mostly limited to public projects such as mega roadway and bridge projects. Guided by the literature, the aim of this research is to understand and report barriers to project partnering in the United States from both vertical/horizontal and public/private construction sectors. Via a comprehensive literature review, followed by a Delphi survey of partnering experts, this study systematically classified barriers to project partnering. In study results, implementation barriers to partnering during project delivery are more frequently pronounced than the barriers to its adoption. Of the top reported barriers to project partnering, the majority are cultural; project team related barriers show the greatest area of potential for improvement; and contrary to the literature, none is legislative. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by drawing attention to project delivery and management practices in the AEC industry to improve team collaboration and chances of successful implementation and adoption of integrative practices.     

The role of communication in tolerance education

The idea of tolerance, which has a long historical background, has become a necessity rather than a choice for today’s multicultural, pluralistic and democratic society structures. The idea of tolerance in today’s societies is transferred to individuals of the society through family, school as well as the elements of both society and social structure. The way in which the idea of tolerance is transferred to individuals at all three levels is communication. Communication processes are entering the various forms in the family, in the school system and in the social structure and are developing individuals’ understanding of tolerance. This study focuses on the way how communication works at family, school and society levels as a path in the education process and how the communication process can be utilised effectively in order to develop the democratic community. The role and significance of communication in the process of tolerance education was investigated by the literature review method in the case study pattern as one of the qualitative research methods and the findings were evaluated comparatively.

     

Consumers' interest in learning about cooking: the influence of age,gender and education

General and governmental interest in cooking has increased recently. In part this may be because the acquisition of food preparation skills may make individuals less dependent on processed foods and reduce risks of overweight and obesity. However, little research has been conducted on consumers' interests in learning about cooking. Therefore in 2012 an online survey was conducted in Australia among 1023 adult food preparers with the aim of determining what and how they wanted to learn to cook. Questions were asked about interest in learning about cooking‐related topics, specific main meals and cooking techniques, preferred ways to learn, and their demographic characteristics. Frequency and cross‐tabulation analyses were used to compare the responses across demographic categories, and content and correspondence analyses were used to analyse meal preferences and age‐related differences. The findings show that 71% of the sample wanted to learn more about cooking. Respondents wanted to learn to cook a wide range of evening meals, especially ethnic dishes (e.g. Chinese, Thai, Italian, ‘Asian’). Most preferred to learn from television (68%), newspapers and magazines (41%), although attendance at cooking classes (34%), YouTube (27%) and special newsletters (24%) were also popular. There were few, weak associations between interest in cooking and the respondents' demographic characteristics. The findings are discussed in relation to the common problems faced by all domestic food preparers and the major opportunities to communicate about cooking.