Developing a typology of affective responses to advertising

This article identifies—and then validates—a set of categories for use in the measurement of affective responses to advertising. Unlike previous categories developed for this purpose, these are first extracted by cluster analysis and then also subjected to formal tests for reliability and for convergent, discriminant, concurrent, and predictive validity.     

Construct validity and second-order factorial model

Three second-order factorial models are defined, using the LISREL notation, to assess the univocity of a construct. The first model assumes that the constructs are heterogeneous, the second that they are homogeneous. The third model introduces the notion of partial homogeneity between constructs. Partial homogeneity is defined in terms of a LISREL second-order factor model. In some cases, this model offers a viable alternative to the collapsing of items into a unique scale. An example is given of scales which fit the partial homogeneity model.     

ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT ACCOUNT POSITION OF FOUR ASIAN COUNTRIES BEFORE THE 1997 CRISIS

Abstract.  The current paper presents an empirical analysis of the current account positions during the pre Asian crisis period, in the four most crisis-hit countries (namely Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea and Indonesia). We have employed the procedures advocated by Husted for the presence of stationarity in current accounts by estimating a cointegration relationship between any country's exports and imports. The results do not substantiate the presence of cointegration between the series, implying that the macroeconomic fundamentals in these countries prior to the crisis were far from robust, at least from the perspective of current account sustainability.     

The effect of expertise on consumers' satisfaction with the use of interactive recommendation agents

Based on cost‐benefit theory and the value‐percept diversity model, this study investigates the underlying mechanism that makes consumers feel satisfied with the use of interactive recommendation agents (IRAs). The format of IRAs was manipulated experimentally (attribute‐based format/benefit‐based format/no agent) and participants were classified as either expert or novice consumers. The dependent measures were the perceived costs and benefits of the information search process, the perceived costs and benefits of the decision‐making process, and the degree of satisfaction with the outcome. The results explain the mechanisms underlying consumers' satisfaction when using an IRA. The findings also suggest the presence of an interaction between the expertise of consumers and the preferred type of IRA on various dependent variables. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An experimental test of brand insulation against competitor attacks: Effects of consumer heterogeneity and residual desire

Price discounts generally move consumers from lower‐quality brands to higher‐quality brands more than from higher‐quality brands to lower‐quality brands. This asymmetry can reverse, however, to favor the lower‐quality brand when improvements are made to product quality. Whether such variations exist when the goal is to retain rather than steal customers remains untested and constitutes the focus of this study. Experimental results indicate that customer retention strategies tend to favor higher‐quality brands. Higherquality brands are able to retain customers by matching the form of the lower‐quality brand's attack (price reduction or quality improvement). For lower‐quality brands, matching is effective only in the case of a price attack by a higher‐quality brand. Furthermore, higher‐quality brands are able to effectively retain customers with price reductions that are smaller than the discount offered by a lower‐quality competitor, whereas lower‐quality brands must match the magnitude of a discount by a higher‐quality brand to retain customers. The findings suggest that differences in customer retention across quality levels arise from (1) heterogeneity among consumers of different quality levels in the relative weightings of price and quality, and (2) switching decisions based on reasons that are biased toward continuing to purchase, or moving to, higher quality products. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Design considerations for neyman-pearson and wald hypothesis testing

Summary The Neyman-Pearson Lemma describes a test for two simple hypotheses that, for a given sample size, is most powerful for its level. It is usually implemented by choosing the smallest sample size that achieves a prespecified power for a fixed level. The Lemma does not describe how to select either the level or the power of the test. In the usual Wald decision-theoretic structure there exists a sampling cost function, an initial prior over the hypothesis space and various payoffs to right/wrong hypothesis selections. The optimal Wald test is a Bayes decision rule that maximizes the expected payoff net of sampling costs. This paper shows that the Wald-optimal test and the Neyman-Pearson test can be the same and how the Neyman-Pearson test, with fixed level and power, can be viewed as a Wald test subject to restrictions on the payoff vector, cost function and prior distribution.     

Unemployment and Catching Up: Europe Vis-à-vis the USA

This paper develops a two-region two-sector endogenous growth model with a dual labour market based on efficiency wages. Growth is driven by research done in the (high-tech) tradeables sector. The follower region tends to catch up in terms of labour productivity with the leader region. Differences in unemployment compensation systems can lead to relative convergence, i.e., a steady state with the backward region lagging behind the leader region. The reason for this is that high social welfare compensations generate high unemployment and reduce the amount of labour employed for R&D purposes.