An additional approach for interpretation of multiple discriminant analysis in business research

Several useful approaches for interpreting multiple discriminant analysis (MDA), including graph plots, have recently been illustrated for business researchers. This article proposes and illustrates an extension of the traditional plotting procedures in MDA that allows the depiction of both group overlaps and differences among groups. We also discuss several other interpretational approaches in MDA.     

A comparison of job analytic and conventional economic variables as explanations of occupational earnings differentials

Occupational carnings are analyzed in order to determine the relative importance of micro-oriented job analytic variables vis-a-vis more conventional market variables as explanatory factors of earnings differentials. Earnings functions are constructed in order to determine the extent to which these variables can explain occupational earnings differentials. These functions are analyzed by means of both ordinary least squares and ridge regression techniques. Job analytic variables were obtained from the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), which measures job characteristics that are similar to many job evaluation systems. When these approaches are combined, a comprehensive model can be estimated that reflects the responsibilities, experience, training, skills, job environment, and work regularity characteristics of different occupations as well as conventional economic factors. Although the job analytic variables measure potentially important differences between jobs, the conventional economic variables have greater explanatory power.     

Comparative evaluation of empirical response functions in sales management decision making

Although the potential value of an empirical response function as a sales management decision-making tool is evident, the question of whether functions with different properties will provide comparable decision guidelines has not been investigated. One important property of these functions is their ability to explain variation in sales response relationships. The present study develops and comparatively evaluates two response functions that differ in explanatory power as expressed by their R² values. Each function is used to make sales forecasts and determine optimal call levels to the same set of randomly selected retail accounts, and the two functions provide different decision guidelines. This article discusses the implications of these results and future research directions.     

Retailing strategy for customer growth and new customer attraction

The image that current and potential customers have of a retail store affects the magnitude of patronage at that store. In attempting to increase store patronage, management of a retail store must look to people who already are customers, as well as to people who are not current customers. The appropriate strategy depends upon the dimensions used by people in their evaluation of the store. The hypothesis is tested that the strategy used for gaining increased patronage from customers may have to differ from that used to gain patronage from noncustomers.Field survey techniques were used to collect data from 225 adult females. Respondents evaluated three large retail department stores, which were believed to have distinct images in the minds of female shoppers, on the basis of a set of 12 semantic scales that represented various store attributes. Each respondent indicated frequency of shopping at each store. The data were analyzed by two different multiple discriminant analyses. For the customer growth strategy, the semantic scale measures were used to develop a discriminant model for each store to determine which attributes would be the best predictors of shopping frequency. The analysis relevant to the strategy of new customer attraction differed. First, shoppers were classified as loyal to one store on the basis of their rates of shopping at each store. Second, the 36 attribute measurements (12 scales for 3 stores) were factor analyzed, and three factors were extracted. Those attributes which loaded highest on each of the factors for each store were used as predictor variables in the discriminant analysis.The results of this study indicate that different marketing strategies may be required for increasing sales to existing customers and attracting new customers. In addition, consumers do not necessarily differentiate similar type retail stores on the same dimension.     

Perceived industrial innovation advantage and export commitment

There are increasingly sales opportunities for capital equipment in developing countries. Concomitantly, concern is that capital intensive technologies are too widely employed. Yet there has been little reported empirical research on why LDC manufacturers choose specific equipment. Textile manufacturers accounting for a significant part of Peru's spinning and weaving capacities participated in this study by providing perceptions of two capital versus labor intensive technologies capable of producing identical output. Exporters and nonexporters scores, using a five-point scale, were compared by t tests on 19 equipment attributes selected from innovation diffusion studies. Factor analysis determined innovations underlying dimensions. Factor scores were regressed on export commitment proxies. Higher export dependence related to more concern with ease of altering output specifications and less concern with cost, thus supporting that dependence on foreign versus domestic markets will affect equipment decisions. The method of comparing product attribute perceptions provides a simple possibility for segmenting LDC capital equipment markets.     

Issues in fitting theoretical and measurement models in marketing

This article reviews the applications of linear structural equation modeling in business. It further examines the extent to which measurement models are constructed to fit theory models. The consensus appears to be that modelers intuitively use congeneric models without considering the appropriateness of such use. The other measurement models, such as tau equivalent or parallel form models are used very little in the literature. In addition, there is no use of common factor measurement models. The article also examines the extent to which various indices of fit are used in modeling marketing phenomena. Although chi square tests of model fit are used most frequently, the study documents increasing use of yet other indices, which perhaps more accurately reflect the extent to which the model fits.     

Return and price volatility of bonds with different credit risk

This article analyzes the relative price and monthly holding period return volatility of bonds with differing credit risk. The research proceeds by decomposing the causes of price volatility into that due to duration and yield volatility. Lower duration, due to higher coupon rate, and relatively stable yields, due to the behavior of credit risk and risk aversion over the business cycle, may well make lower quality issues such as A and Baa industrials exhibit less volatility than high-quality issues such as Aaa industrials and United States Treasury issues.     

Demographics,job satisfaction,and propensity to leave of industrial salesmen

An extremely important and expensive promotional tool used by industrial marketers is personal selling. One of the major costs of personal selling is the cost associated with sales personnel turnover. Past studies in the sales management area have focused on the effect of organizational and psychological factors on the satisfaction of salespeople and their propensity to leave their organizations. However, no study has examined the interrelationships among salespeople's demographic variables, job satisfaction, and propensity to leave, even though such relationships have been studied for nonselling occupations. An empirical study done to at least partly fill this research void is described. The results provide new insights for researchers and practitioners with an interest in the sales management area.     

Product familiarity and information processing strategies: An exploratory investigation

A theoretical and empirical examination of the relationship between product class familiarity and usage of information processing strategies is presented. Four major dimensions of information processing strategies are identified and used to conceptualize the linkage between product class familiarity and usage of particular strategies. Research hypotheses are tested in an exploratory study using a laboratory choice situation. Implications of the study with respect to usage of specific strategies and for future research are discussed.     

Similarities between conflict and cooperation in the marketing channel

This article examines the relationship between two causes of conflict: domain dissensus and perceptual incongruity, and the levels of conflict and cooperation within a marketing channel dyad. Utilizing a national sample of food broker-food wholesaler dyads, four hypotheses were tested—two relating domain dissensus and two relating perceptual incongruity to conflict/cooperation. Results indicated no significant relationship between either perceptual incongruities or domain dissensus and the level of conflict found in the dyad, while a significant negative relationship was found between both perceptual incongruities and domain dissensus and the level of cooperation in the dyad.     

Mapping market mobility: Psychographic profiles and media exposure

Are there households in trading areas that have unique mobility predispositions? Can mobility types be monitored? And does mobility type relate to the life style and consumption patterns of households? This study examines the mobility and life style characteristics of suburbanites in a medium-sized city in an effort to discover the answers to these and other questions.In particular, the article suggests that mobility relates to life style and media usage, which in turn largely determines the quality of consumer demand and the most efficient media to reach such a market. If the composition of mobility types within a shopping area is changing, retailers should monitor these changes so that they can better predict retail demand—both quality and quantity.A self-administered questionnaire was designed to measure (1) the mobility characteristics of consumers—including their local moves, long-distance moves, and their predisposition to move; (2) the life styles and socioeconomic characteristics of consumers; and (3) the median exposures of households. The instrument was administered by personal interviews with 322 suburban housewives within a medium-sized trading area. The usage sample included 304 cases.The data support the hypotheses of the study; mobility types emerged from the analysis and these had distinctive life styles and media habits. Periodic sampling of households is suggested as an approach to monitoring mobility composition within the trading area.     

Self-monitoring,norms, and attitudes as influences on consumer complaining

Reactions of consumers to marketplace problems vary widely despite the frequent similarity of sources of dissatisfaction. The results of two studies designed to investigate the determinants of consumer inclinations to complain are presented. Two alternative social-psychological explanations of behavior employing self-monitoring, moral and social norms,and attitudes as predictor variables are examined.     

Measuring managerial cognitive styles: On the logical validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

This study examined the validity of the sensing-intuition and thinking-feeling scales of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a measure of cognitive styles (i.e., process). Using 20 full-time-employed graduate students in Business Administration as subjects, and simultaneous verbal protocols as a measure of process, only partial support for the scales was found. In particular, the sensing-intuition scale demonstrated greater convergence with processes hypothesized to be associated with it than did the thinking-feeling scale. Recommendations for improving the scales are made.