An Empirical Study of Service Quality Implementation

The strategic importance of quality management has grown in importance in recent years. However, although the competitive implications of adhering to a quality agenda have been much alluded to within the literature, the evidence from a review of published studies suggests that service quality and strategy issues have been addressed as separate concerns by researchers. This study examines the components which facilitate the quality implementation process. The factor analysis of data emphasises the importance of ‘senior managerial commitment’ and ‘employee resourcefulness’ in quality implementation initiatives and offers support to the growing implementation initiatives and offers support to the growing literature arguing for a greater consideration of the human dimension in quality implementation programmes. It is proposed that further research needs to be carried out to examine mangerial attiudes towards the service quality implementation process and to assess some of the practical issues involved in introducing quality initiatives in hotel organisations.     

The impact of public investment on private investment spending in Latin America: 1980–95

This paper investigates the theoretical and empirical links between key economic variables and private spending in Latin America during 1980 to 1995. The empirical findings of this paper directly address the complementarity hypothesis which suggests that increases in public investment spending raise the marginal productivity of private capital, thereby inducing higher rates of private investment spending. This paper also addresses the issue of whether changes in the real exchange rate (expenditure-switching policies) have a deflationary effect on the economics of Latin America. The findings in this paper make an important contribution to the ongoing debate about which policies need to be promoted to raise and sustain the rate of private capital formation in Latin America—the region's future source of employment and income creation.     

Entry Strategies and Market Performance Causal Modeling of a Business Simulation

A key decision faced by marketing managers is the development of entry strategies for new markets. In addition to selecting which product market to enter, the manager must make decisions about the entry strategy itself. The entry strategy, whether managed actively or passively, affects the entrant's performance. In this article, Donna Green and Adrian Ryans discuss the three major components of an entry strategy: the timing of entry, the magnitude and areas of investment and the basis for competitive emphasis. They report that very little empirical research has focused on relationships between entry strategy and eventual product performance.     

Taking stock: Can the theory of reasoned action explain unethical conduct?

Extensive interest in business ethics has developed accompanied by an increase in empirical research on the determinants of unethical conduct. In setting forth the theory of reasoned action, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) maintained that research attention on such variables as personality traits and demographic characteristics is misplaced and, instead, researchers should focus on behavioral intentions and the beliefs that shape those intentions. This study summarizes business ethics research which tests the theory of reasoned action and suggests directions for further research. Donna M. Randall is an Assistant Professor of Management at Washington State University. Her research interests include organizational commitment, professional deviance, and the regulation of reproductive health in toxic work environments. Her work has been published in Academy of Management Review, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Decision Sciences and others.     

Exploring pupils’ beliefs about designers and designing

The purpose of this paper is to report on an investigation into pupil beliefs about designers and designing conducted as part of a research project focussing on Designerly Activity in Secondary Design and Technology which builds upon a pilot study (Barlex and Trebell in Int J Technol Design Educ, 2007). Four research questions drove this element of the study: (a) What do pupils believe designers do? (b) What do pupils believe about the knowledge and skills designers must possess? (c) What do pupils believe designers are like? (d) What do pupils believe about the design decisions made by the designer of a given product? This paper compliments the work of Welch et al. (Designing the future: The design and technology association international research conference 2006, University of Wolverhampton, Telford, 2006) relating to student beliefs about designers and designing by drawing on some elements of the research design to inform this study. Pupil responses to questions relating to the role of the designer, what designers are like and what designers need to know are in line with the findings of Welch et al. (Designing the future: The design and technology association international research conference 2006, University of Wolverhampton, Telford, 2006) in their study of elementary students beliefs about designers and designing with both studies concluding that the qualities ascribed to the designer are positive and non-stereotypical—they can be young or old, female or male.     

The Price is Right? Pay Settlements and Nominal Wage Rigidity in Britain

We examine representative, group‐level wage settlement data to augment the debate on nominal pay rigidity in Britain. We investigate the characteristics of groups that settle at zero and the role of within‐firm and external influences. Nominal settlement cuts are rare. Zero nominal wage settlements are more common, but still relatively unusual, highest during (low‐inflation) recessionary periods. Small groups, above all firms under duress, appear most likely to settle at zero. Once a group settles at zero it is unlikely to do so again in the short run.     

Ethical decision making in the medical profession: An application of the theory of planned behavior

The present study applied Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior to the explanation of ethical decision making. Nurses in three hospitals were provided with scenarios that depicted inadequate patient care and asked if they would report health professionals responsible for the situation. Study results suggest that the theory of planned behavior can explain a significant amount of variation in the intent to report a colleague. Attitude toward performing the behavior explained a large portion of the variance; subjective norms explained a moderate amount of the variance; and, perceived behavioral control added little to the explanation of variance. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Donna M. Randall is an Associate Professor in Management and Systems at Washington State University. Her research interests include organizational commitment, media coverage of elite crime, and ethical issues in management. Her publications have appeared in such journals as Decision Sciences, Academy of Management Review, and Journal of Business Ethics. Annetta M. Gibson is a doctoral student in the Department of Accounting and Business Law at Washington State University and a CPA. Her research interests lie in the area of behavioral accounting and ethical issues in auditing, accounting, and management. She has published in the Journal of Business Ethics.     

Primal/Dual Positive Math Programming: Illustrated through an Evaluation of the Impacts of Market Resistance to Genetically Modified Grains

The goal of Howitt's positive mathematical programming procedure is to calibrate a mathematical programming model so that it will reproduce a set of base data for the primal variables. This article develops an analogous procedure allowing one to specify the levels of both primal and dual variables. This article also sheds light on a potential ambiguity of Howitt's procedure (with attendant policy evaluation impacts). The procedure is illustrated through application to an equilibrium displacement model focused on evaluating the consequences of the reluctance of U.S. trading partners to accept genetically modified crop products for U.S. production patterns and net farm income.     

THE RELATION AMONG DIVIDEND POLICY,FIRM SIZE,AND THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS

In this paper we investigate the role of dividends in explaining the size effect. The previous literature concludes that before the firm's earnings announcement, small firm stock prices impound less information than large firm stock prices. This size effect is evidenced by the greater market reaction to small firm earnings announcements than to large firm earnings announcements. We find that if the dividend announcement precedes the earnings announcement, no size effect exists. The implication is that the information conveyed by dividend announcements includes the information conveyed to investors in large firms by other information sources. However, if the firm does not pay dividends or if the firm's earnings announcement precedes its dividend announcement, the size effect exists. The implication is that dividends do not completely explain the size effect. That is, there are information sources other than dividends that are exclusively available to investors in large firms, and the information provided by these sources is reflected in the stock price of large firms before the earnings announcement.