The Role of Brand Orientation in Church Participation: An Empirical Examination

Although a large amount of research has been undertaken into the application of marketing techniques in church organizations, few studies have provided empirical evidence on the effects of brand orientation on church participation. This empirical study sought to contribute to the body of literature via a survey of 344 church attendees of a particular church denomination in Australia. The conceptual model hypothesizes brand orientation as performing direct and indirect effects on church participation through perceived benefits as the mediating variables. A person's perception of the extent to which a church engages in brand-oriented activities and behavior is significantly related with his or her perception of the benefits associated with church activities, which then leads to a higher level of church participation. The results reveal that brand orientation is significantly related with perceived benefits and church participation.     

An Examination of Exercised Power in Vertically Integrated Distribution Channels for Goods and Services

Abstract

The concepts of vertical integration and power use are summarized and various propositions about the potential relationships between the two are presented. Both physical goods industries and service industries are considered. The propositions are intended to provide market researchers with better insight as to power use in integrated channel structures.     

服务贸易自由化与全球价值链:参与度及分工地位

本文利用世界银行的服务贸易限制指数以及世界投入产出数据库,研究了服务贸易自由化对制造业全球价值链参与度和分工地位的影响。实证结果表明:服务贸易自由化促进了制造业全球价值链的前向参与而抑制了其后向参与,显著提升了制造业企业在价值链中的分工地位;从经济发展水平来看,服务贸易自由化对发展中国家分工地位的提升效应大于发达国家;不同服务部门的开放具有异质性影响,其中零售、电信、金融和专业服务部门的自由化能够显著提升一国制造业的分工地位,而运输服务部门自由化促进制造业价值链升级的作用并不明显。本文为中国进一步扩大服务贸易开放,助力制造业利用国内外优质服务深度融入全球价值链、提升国际竞争力、实现价值链跃升提供了实证支持和政策参考。     

Financial Education and Counseling—Still Holding Promise

This article reviews the evaluation literature on financial education and counseling for adults in order to synthesize implications for research and practice. Most evaluations report positive impacts, but the findings are often small when compared with valid comparison groups. Many evaluations use self-reported measures, measure outcomes over short time periods and cannot rule out selection bias due to nonrandomized designs, all of which may bias results. Although future research and practice in this field hold promise, more attention to theory-based evaluations and further investment in randomized field experiments may be fruitful.     

中国高等教育服务进口影响因素的实证分析

本文利用统计学中变量选择法和模型选择法并依托R语言计算能力分别建立ARIMA模型和动态回归模型.由于对ARIMA模型进行了交叉验证,令人满意的预测结果表明,利用该模型进一步预测得到中国今后几年出国留学人数增长趋势将放缓的结论具有合理性.动态回归模型则对影响出国留学人数的主要因素之重要性进行度量,说明影响中国高等教育服务进口的主要因素按其重要性排序依次是国内就业压力、高校毕业生人数和人均可支配收入.进一步分析则说明中国高等教育行业在全球范围内竞争力不足是导致服务进口居高不下的最主要原因.     

WTO体制下的服务贸易自然人流动谈判与我国的参与策略

WTO体制下的服务贸易自然人流动谈判进展缓慢,面临应对保护主义盛行、成员利益诉求不同而难以协调和克服谈判方式缺陷等诸多挑战。保障发展中国家的更广泛参与、提高市场准入的透明度和确定性以及实施GATS签证制度有利于推进服务贸易自然人流动谈判进程。我国应深入研究WTO体制下自然人流动谈判的过程、参与各方的立场与态度,制定明确的谈判策略,积极参与WTO服务贸易自然人流动谈判,积极面对、稳步推进、有序开放我国服务贸易部门的自然人流动准入,针对不同的国家和地区,在不同的服务部门有区别、有重点地提出谈判要价和出价。     

我国的教育服务贸易与立法

加入WTO促进了我国教育服务贸易的快速发展,也加快了我国教育服务贸易的立法进程。但是,对教育服务的可贸易性认识不足、明显的教育服务贸易逆差、严重滞后的教育服务贸易立法、模糊不清的政府职能定位和严重缺位的政府服务等问题都影响了我国教育服务贸易的健康发展,如何维护教育主权及如何保护和弘扬我国的民族文化是我国发展教育服务贸易面临的重大挑战。我国应当从完善教育服务贸易立法体制和立法内容两方面入手,积极推进教育服务贸易发展的进程。     

论教育考试作弊及其防治

作弊是对教育考试的蓄意挑战,严重地威胁着教育考试公正。然而在对教育考试作弊的看法上存在着偏差。要有效地惩治作弊,首先必须认定作弊即作恶,进而弄清当前作弊日趋严重的主要原因,并在此基础上采取相应的对策和措施。本文主要针对人们对教育考试作弊的同情态度讨论作弊的邪恶本质及其对教育考试公正的破坏性、教育考试作弊的基本形式及新趋势和对其进行综合惩治的基本思路。     

德国社会参与职业教育研究

长期以来,德国社会高度重视职业教育.在职业教育社会参与机制的作用下,职业教育成为德国一项社会性事业.德国社会多方积极参与职业教育与培训,担负起与自身职责相应的责任,取得了社会多方协力举办职业教育与培训、社会多方提供职业教育与培训经费、职业教育发展与社会实际需求密切联系和实现职业技术人才培养的高质量等良好效果.     

国际海运服务环境保护之法律审视

国际海运服务环境保护不仅是国际环境法律问题,而且更是国际服务贸易法律问题。各国在国际海运服务环境保护中应该谨慎行使国家主权,善意履行国际义务,审慎利用生命例外原则,不应妨碍国际海运服务贸易自由化,并通过国际合作和真正落实共同但有区别责任原则来提高发展中国家和不发达国家参与国际海运服务环境保护的积极性和主动性,最终实现国际海运服务环境保护目标。     

Customer Participation Behavior in High- Versus Low-Contact Services: The Multiple Roles of Customer Trust

ABSTRACT

In light of the changing roles of customers from service co-producer to value co-creator, the customer participation literature has conceptualized two types of participation behavior: co-production and value co-creation. However, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning both the antecedents of customer co-creation behavior and the outcomes of such behavior in relation to customer-perceived value and loyalty. Anchored in the trust-commitment theory, the present research (a) examines the effect of how a customer's trust in the service personnel could affect his/her cooperative behavior over the service design and delivery processes; and (b) investigates how the potential impact of a customer's trust in service personnel on his/her co-design and co-delivery behavior could be made contingent upon the customer's trust in the service brand and the types of high- versus low-customer-contact service contexts. Filling the aforementioned research gaps, the present research contributes to advance our knowledge of the roles played by trust at different levels of analysis in facilitating customer participation behavior and improving our appreciation of the customer contact service contexts when designing the service organization for maximizing service value and sustaining brand loyalty over time.     

Clients of Commercial and Not-for-Profit Credit Counseling Agencies: Their Evaluations of Agency Services and Money Management Behavior

The number of family credit counseling agencies has expanded in recent years. The purpose of these agencies is to seek cooperation of lenders in setting up a plan whereby debtors can repay their debts. However, the agencies have sought not only to extricate clients from their current financial problems but also to educate them to avoid future financial problems. There is a debate in the credit counseling industry over whether the not-for-profit or the commercial agency can best serve debtor needs. This study is based on a survey of debtors who were clients of a not-for-profit agency or of a commercial agency. No significant differences were found in clients' evaluations of the services of the two agencies or in the credit and money management behavior of the two client groups.     

High School Economic Education and Access to Financial Services

This study provides a long-term assessment of economic education by examining an individual's decision to have a bank account. Using the results of a nationwide telephone survey, high school courses in economics and business reduced the probability that an adult was unbanked, ceteris paribus. In addition, adults who demonstrated a higher level of understanding of basic economic concepts were less likely to be unbanked. The results indicated that an individual's understanding of the economic system was as important as formal coursework in explaining access to basic financial services.     

全球教育服务贸易的发展及特点

随着经济全球化和人才国际化的发展,教育服务在国际间的输入和输出日益频繁,再加上教育本身所具有的重要意义,使得我们对于教育服务贸易这一崭新的问题必须给予更大的关注。     

服务业跨国投资决定因素与我国投资环境分析

我国服务领域吸引外资的水平远远低于制造业,也低于世界平均水平、发达国家与发展中国家的平均水平。本文从分析服务业跨国投资的动因和跨国投资选址决定因素出发,对我国当前服务业投资环境进行了分析,试图解释我国吸引服务业跨国投资相对较少的原因,并提出了改善服务业引资环境的建议。     

Moral Development in Business Ethics: An Examination and Critique

The field of behavioral ethics has seen considerable growth over the last few decades. One of the most significant concerns facing this interdisciplinary field of research is the moral judgment-action gap. The moral judgment-action gap is the inconsistency people display when they know what is right but do what they know is wrong. Much of the research in the field of behavioral ethics is based on (or in response to) early work in moral psychology and American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s foundational cognitive model of moral development. However, Kohlberg’s model of moral development lacks a compelling explanation for the judgment-action gap. Yet, it continues to influence theory, research, teaching, and practice in business ethics today. As such, this paper presents a critical review and analysis of the pertinent literature. This paper also reviews modern theories of ethical decision making in business ethics. Gaps in our current understanding and directions for future research in behavioral business ethics are presented. By providing this important theoretical background information, targeted critical analysis, and directions for future research, this paper assists management scholars as they begin to seek a more unified approach, develop newer models of ethical decision making, and conduct business ethics research that examines the moral judgment-action gap.

     

An Examination of Emotional Information Management in Gift Giving and Receipt

Gift giving is prominent in marketplace exchanges and has robust emotional implications for both the giver and recipient. For example, prior to and during the selection of a gift, the giver endures positive and negative emotions, as he/she grapples with selecting the perfect gift, and ponders if the recipient will actually cherish the purchased item. During this dynamic exchange process, emotional recognition, management of emotions, emotional empathy, and anticipated elation are oft experienced by both the giver and recipient. However, research examining such emotions quantitatively in a gifting context is scant and models of these faculties in the gift‐giving milieu are nonexistent. To help fill this research fissure, four studies are developed; they, in general, investigate determinants of feelings linked with the gestation, prestation, and reformulation stages of the gift‐giving event. Specifically, Study 1 (giver's perspective) and Study 2 (receiver's perspective) reveal a mediation void in the models tested. Heeding these results, Study 3 (gift given) and Study 4 (gift received) introduce anticipated elation as a key factor between the aforementioned emotive factors and the emotional responses inherent in the gift‐giving stages, among others. Managerial implications and future research directions are offered.     

A Systematic Literature Review to Identify Successful Elements for Financial Education and Counseling in Groups

This study reviews the literature available on contents, form, and effectiveness of group‐based programs for combined financial education and counseling aimed specifically at populations at risk for financial difficulties. Despite the widespread application of these programs, relatively little is known about their effectiveness. In general, evidence points to positive effects of several programs on knowledge, confidence, and (intended) behavior, but the exact mechanisms through which this is achieved remain unclear. The topics covered differ among studies, but common themes can be identified. It appears of importance to combine education with practical exercises allowing participants to apply the skills they learn. Motivating clients is another important recurring theme. Working in groups provides an added benefit through recognition and peer support. It is important that future research focuses on the mechanisms of change and on long‐term effects, since these remain largely unknown in the current body of literature.     

医疗服务成本控制对策的分析

目前,医疗服务成本居高不下,百姓负担过重,看病贵成为社会各界关注的焦点。对医疗服务成本控制,应从政府、医保机构以及医院等方面入手,加大政府补偿力度,改进医院定价核算机制,完善医疗保障,明显降低医疗成本,全面提高医院成本管理水平,有效规避风险,减轻整个社会医疗保险系统费用上涨的压力,尽快改变医院靠提高药品收入和检查收入来弥补医疗成本的状况。