Ambiguity and Exaggeration in Price Promotion: Perceptions of the Elder and Nonelder Consumer

This paper examines the effects of plausible as well as implausible or exaggerated tensile discounts on consumer discounting behavior, price perceptions, and behavioral intentions. The effects are compared across two consumer segments, elder and nonelder, for a product and a service. Findings indicate that age of the consumer had a significant interaction with discount level for consumer discounting behavior regarding the product offer. While consumers were skeptical of implausible discounts, the effects of implausible and high-plausible discounts on price perceptions were higher than that of low-plausible discounts. In addition, there were no significant differences between the implausible and high-plausible discount levels for price perceptions or behavioral intentions. The results provide implications for public policy makers.     

The Changing Nature of Contracting and Trust in Public‐Private Partnerships: The Case of Victorian PPP Prisons

This paper examines shifting constructions of contracting and trust that are manifest between pre‐2000 and post‐2000 public‐private partnerships (PPPs) providing prison facilities and/or services in the Australian State of Victoria. As such, this paper is significant because it outlines longitudinal insights into the nature of changing practices sustaining these PPPs. The post‐2000 period examined reflects a change of government and the policy context. Our examination is based on a range of primary and secondary documents. The primary documents comprise three pre‐2000 Prison Services Agreements and two post‐2000 Facilities Services Agreements. A number of government and other reports constitute the secondary documents consulted. While there are many substantive similarities between the contracts, we find five main areas of changed contracting practices over the period examined. These relate to: first, the objectives of the PPP prisons; second, risk management practices; third, the approach to performance measurement and reporting; fourth, the structuring of incentive and payment mechanisms; and fifth, the emphasis on collaboration. Overall, we find that the post‐2000 contracts promote a more overt development of goodwill trust and relational contracting, building on presumptions of contractual and competence forms of trust. However, quite different outcomes have been achieved from particular contractual contexts. Our study suggests that in complex PPP contracts, the influences of both the transacting parties and the transaction environment have been insufficiently recognized in the literature on PPPs.     

ECONOMIC FREEDOM,SPORT POLICY,AND INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

Many countries promote participation in physical activity among its citizens. We undertake an international comparative analysis of participation using data from 34 countries in the 2007 International Social Survey Programme Leisure Time and Sports module, augmented with country‐specific characteristics capturing economic freedom and national sport policy. Gross domestic product per capita and economic freedom are associated with higher physical activity participation; past success of the national team in the Olympics is associated with lower participation, but hosting sports mega‐events is associated with higher participation. Our findings indicate that participation in sport and physical activity falls with age and rises with education and income. (JEL H59, I12, I18, J22, L83)     

MODELING INTERNAL DECISION MAKING PROCESS: AN EXPLANATION OF CONFLICTING EMPIRICAL RESULTS ON BEHAVIOR OF NON‐PROFIT AND FOR‐PROFIT HOSPITALS

This article develops multiobjective models of hospital decision making that incorporate the internal decision process in both a for‐profit and a non‐profit hospital (NPH). Predicted output and quality for an NPH differ from those for a for‐profit hospital under some conditions but converge under others. Convergence may be the result of a complex internal decision structure with decision control primarily by physicians, similar objectives across different organizational forms, or differing constraints. The mechanisms underlying these outcomes provide explanations for conflicting results in empirical studies of non‐profit and for‐profit hospitals and provide a different rationale for convergence than non‐profit response to competition from for‐profit hospitals. Understanding the source of convergence is important for policies directed toward the tax treatment of NPHs.(JEL D21, D23, I11, L3, L21)     

Money-off coupons and the consumer: are they worth the effort?

Is the use of coupons a worthwhile practice for consumers? What defines a cost-effective money-off coupon user? In this study, the time cost of clipping and organizing grocery coupons is compared to actual savings received. Forty per cent of consumers did not reap savings at least equal to their time cost of coupon clipping. Cost-ineffective consumers are identified and compared to the cost-effective group on several demographic and shopping characteristics. Differences are discussed in relation to consumer economics and super-shopper role models.     

Consumer attitudes to ‘Healthy’ restaurants

This paper describes the results of a qualitative research study that sought the views of consumers about using restaurants as a setting for health promotion and, specifically, for providing low-fat healthy food choices. As health promotion has evolved from a major focus on individual change toward a greater focus on the environments in which people live, work and recreate, restaurants in Australia are now being targeted as appropriate organizations for change. Consumers in this study expressed cautious interest in the idea. However, it was clear that their prime motivation for choosing a restaurant and a restaurant meal did not lie with healthy food considerations. Instead, issues such as cost, personal preference and hygiene appeared to be more important.     

Now And The Future

Knowledge. management has become part of the rhetoric, if not the reality, of the post-modern business world. There is a widely perceived link between the financial performance of enterprises and the way they cultivate, nurture and exploit the knowledge of individuals and that embodied in their business or professional processes. This paper reviews the emerging literature of knowledge management and points to research opportunities that could lead to a greater understanding of this "next big idea".