A Synergy Between the Technological Process and a Methodology for Web Design: Implications for Technological Problem Solving and Design

Traditional instructional methodology in the Information System Design (ISD) environment lacks explicit strategies for promoting the cognitive skills of prospective system designers. This contributes to the fragmented knowledge and low motivational and creative involvement of learners in system design tasks. In addition, present ISD methodologies, including web design methodologies, do not focus sufficiently on technological problem solving and design. Engagement in system design tasks demands critical thinking [Shelly, Cashman & Rosenblatt, 2001, Systems Analysis and Design, 4th edn. Course Technology, Boston] and abstraction skills [Harris, 1999, Systems Analysis and Design for the Small Enterprise, The Dryden Press, Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Fort Worth]. The aim of this paper is to explain a synergy between the technological process and web design methodology and its influence on the development of the cognitive skills of learners in the ISD context. In this research, the Team Structure Software Process (TSSP) methodology was integrated with the stages of the technological process. An interface approach between Information Systems and Technology Education was adopted during the implementation of an Instructional Web Design Program (IWDP), which served as a framework for building a software product. This research was based on a qualitative, action-research approach where individual interviews, focus group interviews, observation and document sources were used to gather data. Seventeen students at an institution of higher education were observed and their experiences were investigated through a focus group interview, journals and an essay. In addition, an interview with the teacher was conducted to investigate her thoughts and feelings during the implementation of the IWDP. During the implementation of the IWDP, multi-method learning was promoted, enlarging learners' insight into the design process and a climate for enhancing intellectual processes and skills created [Jakovljevic, 2002, An Instructional Model for Teaching Complex Thinking through Web Page Design, DEd thesis, Rand Afrikaan University, Johannesburg] This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Contingent valuation of ill health caused by pollution: testing for context and ordering effects

Contingent valuation is being increasingly used to value episodes of ill health caused by environmental pollution. In contrast to studies that have used contingent valuation to value other types of non-market goods, health episode valuation studies have tended to 1) value several ill health episodes or symptoms in the same survey, and 2) be vague in the survey instrument about the cause of the ill health, how it would be avoided or how the improvement would be paid for. The resulting values are then combined with exposure-response functions to generate economic estimates of health damages from pollution. This study tests whether episode valuation responses are sensitive to two of these design features. In a five-country study using split sample treatments, neither episode ordering nor mention of the cause of the ill health influenced stated willingness to pay to avoid specific ill health episodes.JEL Classification: C42, I12, Q51 Correspondence to: Richard ReadyThis research was supported by the European Unions Environment and Climate Research Programme: Theme 4 - Human Dimensions of Environmental Change (contract no. ENV4-CT96-0234). Any views expressed in the paper are not necessarily the views of any of the authors employers.     

Contents of Volume 22

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 22     

Do consumers perceive benefits from the implementation of a EU mandatory nutritional labelling program?

This paper examines consumers’ knowledge about nutritional labels (i.e., nutritional panel), use of nutritional labels, and perceived benefits from a mandatory nutritional labeling program. Using data from a pilot study conducted in a Spanish city and a three-equation multivariate probit model, our results suggest that individuals who suffer some health problems related to food intake are more knowledgeable about nutritional labels. Further, those who are more knowledgeable about nutritional labels are more likely to use nutritional labels, and nutritional label users are more likely to consider mandatory nutritional labeling as beneficial. Perceived usefulness of the information provided by nutritional labels as well as the amount of presented information affect consumer perceptions about whether or not mandatory nutritional labeling would be beneficial.     

Making a market for alternatives: marketing devices and the qualification of a vegan milk substitute

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to describe, conceptualise and critically discuss how and with what consequences marketing is used to construct a mass market for vegan substitutes. Drawing on the concepts of the marketing device and qualification, it shows how Oatly – a Swedish company making oat-based products – enrols three sets of marketing devices, i.e. digital media, packaging and stores, to simultaneously ‘alternativise’ and ‘convenienise’ its range of vegan products. The result is the material and discursive construction of a range of vegan products that is qualified as different enough from conventional dairy products to be an attractive alternative, but similar enough to fit into existing practices of shopping for food, cooking and eating. By qualifying products along multiple registers, Oatly constructs ‘plastic’ products, which can be consumed, for various reasons, by various groups of consumers thus enacting a multi-niche market for its products.     

Underpricing of Initial Public Offerings: The Case of Portugal

This paper analyzes the initial public offering (IPO) underpricing phenomenon in Portugal. We show that the ‘hot issue’ market of 1987, coinciding with a speculative bubble in the stock market, is well explained by investor sentiment theories and that the issuing firms seized a ‘window of opportunity’ provided by excessive demand to offer and list their shares. In IPOs prior to the 1987 crash, underpricing is very high while there is a strong reversion to fundamentals in the long run. In the period 1988–2004, we find lower IPO underpricing and overall no evidence of long-run underperformance of IPO firms. Bookbuilding IPOs are more underpriced than other price setting systems IPOs, and firms with seasoned public offerings show abnormal returns in the long run.

How to get lost customers back?

Most research in the field of customer relationship management has focused on keeping existing customers. However, some companies also systematically address lost customers and try to revive these relationships. This facet of customer relationship management has been largely neglected by academic research. Our study provides a theoretical discussion and an empirical analysis of factors driving the success of relationship revival activities. Drawing on equity theory, we find that the customer’s perceived interactional, procedural, and distributive justice with respect to revival activities positively affect his or her revival-specific satisfaction which in turn, has a strong impact on revival performance. Furthermore, revival performance depends on customer characteristics (variety seeking, involvement, age), and the overall customer satisfaction with the relationship.