Consequences of ambivalence on satisfaction and loyalty

The key objective of this study was to understand the consequences of subjective ambivalence on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. The conceptual and theoretical discussions were derived largely from recent research in social psychology and integrated with marketing literature on satisfaction and loyalty. Given that product evaluations are typically positive and extreme, these findings indicate a negative relationship between ambivalence and satisfaction. Even though a great deal of the variance in ambivalence is shared with satisfaction, ambivalence did prove to have an independent and direct effect on loyalty. Ambivalent consumers are not only less loyal because they are less satisfied, but for other reasons, as well. Ambivalence was not found to moderate the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. The results of the study underscore the importance of taking ambivalence into consideration when measuring satisfaction and modeling satisfaction–loyalty relationships. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An examination of consumers’ cross-shopping behaviour

This study addresses antecedents of cross-shopping behaviour. Five theory-driven hypotheses are derived and tested. The results indicate that impulse buying tendency and perceived time pressure have a statistically significant negative effect on supermarket patronage. Product assortment and price consciousness have a statistically significant negative effect on speciality store patronage, while impulse buying tendency and convenience orientation have a statistically significant positive effect on speciality store patronage. Perceived time pressure has a statistically significant positive effect on meat store patronage. This effect is, however, not statistically significant on seafood store patronage. The findings have managerial implications for both supermarkets and speciality stores.     

Different but Similar: Social Comparison of Travel Motives Among Tourists

Although previous research suggests that people prefer to think of themselves as being authentic (or individualistic) travellers rather than stereotyped tourists, there have been few studies investigating the external validity of such claim. This paper addresses this research gap by investigating tendencies to dissociate the self from typical tourists in terms of travel motivation. Findings suggest that people perceive their own travel motives to be different from those who they perceive as typical tourists and that these tendencies generalize across people involved in different forms of tourism. This paper discusses the results from a social psychological perspective and provides implications for future research and destination management alike. © 2014 The Authors. International Journal of Tourism Research published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Subjective food-risk judgements in tourists

Sources of risk in contemporary tourism vary over a long array of phenomena ranging from the risk of terror attacks to risks related to food and consumption. Currently, alleged food-risk sources such as Creutzfeldt–Jacobs Disease (CJD; commonly known as “Mad Cow Disease”), Salmonella, Scrapie disease and even genetically modified food are salient in mass media.In the present study, we addressed the pervasiveness of tourists’ judgements of such food-related risks. As part of a larger study, some 1880 individual tourists (from 48 different nations) answered a questionnaire pertaining to food-risk issues. Based on the logics of the availability heuristic, we expected that food risks would be judged to be lower in one's own home country than abroad. We also expected that people would rate various sources for food risk differently when rating food risks at home and abroad.The results indicate that risks linked to food are indeed perceived to be higher abroad than at home, regardless of where the respondents’ homes are, although attributions of risk to the various risk sources seem to vary between at home and abroad. The results also show a significant, but moderate correlation between travel experience and food-risk judgements abroad and at home. The results also indicate cultural differences in risk judgements concerning food.     

On the determination of an optimal sample size

Abstract

In works on sample survey theory and methods the sample size is usually regarded as determined by the sampling procedure and the total cost of the survey.     

'Beyond the M-form': Towards a Critical Test of the New Form

This paper critically examines Bartlett and Ghoshal's claim that a radical new organizational form, distinctly different from the M-form both in terms of its structure and psychological underpinnings, may be observed among transnationals. The main theoretical dimensions of the M-form and the 'New Form' are delineated and compared within the context of the discourse between Transaction Costs Economics (TCE) and the Knowledge Based Approach on organizational advantage. Thereafter empirical evidence centred on ABB is extended and re-examined. On the basis of this analysis the thesis of an emergent new form is found to be unsupported. It is thus reasonable to assume that any organizational advantage transnational companies may possess still resides in hierarchical governance as identified by TCE and outlined in its multinational M-form application. To the extent to which it exists, normative social control has a secondary status.     

Optimal hedging of contingent exposure: the importance of a risk premium

The focus of this article is how a non‐zero risk premium affects an economic agent's optimal hedging decision when exposed to a nonmarketed event. The analysis is not confined to the optimal use of one particular hedging instrument, rather, the optimal payoff based on the agent's preferences is derived. We show, for various preferences, how the size of a risk premium affects the degree of nonlinearity in the optimal hedging instrument. This result is in contrast to known results for contingent exposure in the case of a zero risk premium. We demonstrate an inefficacy of the approach of confining the analysis to one particular hedging instrument in the case of standard exposure. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 20:823–841, 2000     

Reducing Costs of Censuses in Norway Through Use of Administrative Registers

The purpose and methodology of the Norwegian census has changed considerably during the last 35 years. While the census was previously the main source of socio-demographic information, it is to day just one of several sources. After an identification number for each individual was introduced and used in various administrative registers, the dominating role of the census has changed dramatically. For some years it has been the policy of Statistics Norway to collaborate with various governmental agencies in order to use administrative registers in statistics production. This policy has been supported politically, and a new Statistics Act has been useful in these efforts. The purpose of this paper is to present the strategy and methodology used to produce statistics in general, census statistics in particular, when based on a combined use of administrative registers and directly collected data. Experiences from Norwegian censuses since 1960 will be presented.     

Understanding the Relationship between Individualism and Word of Mouth: A Self‐Enhancement Explanation

This study examines factors moderating the relationship between individualism and word‐of‐mouth (WOM) transmission. The conceptual model is based on the premise that high‐individualism consumers are highly driven by the self‐enhancement motive when they transmit WOM and that they change their willingness to provide WOM based on the perceived opportunity for self‐enhancement. The results reveal that high‐individualism consumers are more willing than low‐individualism consumers to transmit WOM in relation to satisfactory consumption experiences (vs. unsatisfactory), when WOM is unsolicited (vs. solicited), and when the context involves high perceived social risk (vs. low perceived social risk). Thus, the findings indicate that self‐enhancement may indeed be the underlying mechanism in the relationship between individualism and WOM transmission.     

Building bridges: Institutional perspectives on interdisciplinarity

There have been a number of contributions to this journal (Futures) that discuss interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity (see our reference list), several of which refer to the institutional character of academic disciplines. The exact nature of this institutional character, however, is generally not discussed in great detail. Our contribution draws on W. Richard Scott's synthetic reconstruction of the many approaches to institutional analysis, aiming to elucidate what an institutional perspective on interdisciplinarity would entail.Without knowledge from several academic disciplines, important problems in contemporary society cannot be solved. Consequently, the quest for interdisciplinary is gaining support among many scientists and funding agencies. In this article, we argue that even if we can understand the ambitions of interdisciplinarity, we also need to be aware of the barriers involved. Interdisciplinary approaches to framing and solving problems will almost inevitably stumble into barriers that are of a structural, cultural and a cognitive nature and problems related to disciplines as social institutions. The question to be discussed is if and how these barriers can be overcome. We claim that it is the structural barriers that are the easiest ones to address, whereas the cultural barriers are more difficult to overcome because they require more than a regulatory fix.