Government Policy: The Next Ten Steps Proposals by a radical

The Thatcher Government is coming under Increasing criticism from disillusioned supporters for failing to roll back the state. Lord (Jo) Grimond and David Howell outline ten next steps to revitalise the Government's intentions.     

Implementing a divergent response? The UK approach to bribery in international and domestic contexts

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses UK domestic bribery. The authors argue that in both domestic and international contexts, cases are not numerically significant but that changes in how the UK government approaches bribery in the international context means that, where once domestic bribery was addressed more rigorously than bribery in the international context, this imbalance may be being steadily reversed. The paper concludes by setting out the implications that this identifiable divergence may have for the effective policing of bribery in the domestic context. The paper makes an empirical and theoretical contribution to the literature on corruption in the UK.     

Cultural influences on cross-border vacationing

This study investigates the impact of cultural variables on cross-border vacationing in the Western New York-Southern Ontario region in North America and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen area in Asia. A survey of 635 cross-border vacationers in the two regions indicates that economic, quality, and service variables and the affective pleasure of vacationing in a foreign environment exert effects on vacationers' perceptions, behavior, and satisfaction predicted on the basis of the levels of individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and time orientation prevalent in those border regions.     

The impact of membership fees on consumer attitude and choice

This study examined the impact of membership fees on consumer attitude and purchase behavior. Subjects participated in a computerized simulated shopping experiment, and chose between three competing videotape rental stores, receiving feedback about purchase utility on each occasion. Manipulations included the presence or absence of an initial membership-fee requirement at the dominant store and the timing of a lowering of that store's utility to the same level as that offered by a competing establishment. Store loyalty is shown to vary as a function of membership fees and utility changes in a manner consistent with hypotheses generated from prospect, escalation-of-commitment, cognitive-dissonance, and self-perception theories. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Justice motivation and place image influences on volunteer tourism: perceptions,responses, and deliberations

In the growing area of alternative tourism, tourist motives have been discussed but there is little consensus about what drives volunteer tourists. This paper explores the salience of justice motivation to the travel decision and deepens this understanding by contextualizing the volunteer tourism decision within the destination place image. Interviews were conducted during a Kenyan expedition. Results show justice motivation theory contributes to the explanation of trip participation as perceived injustices aligned with poorly perceived dimensions of the country’s image.     

Switching behavior in automobile markets: A consideration-sets model

Consideration-set formation and the direct and indirect consequences of consideration-set size on switching behavior in automobile markets provide the focus for this model development and testing effort. Empirical support is provided for a model revealing that consideration sets, formed as a consequence of prior experience, product knowledge, and satisfaction, play a substantial role in a consumer’s decision to switch or repurchase the same brand acquired on the previous purchase occasion. Consideration sets are shown to affect the switching decision both directly and indirectly (by motivating retailer search activities). His research has appeared inJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Economic Psychology, andPsychology and Marketing.     

Half a Loaf from the System?

David Stockman was 'innocent' to expect the Reagon govermment to cut its expenditure, claims Lord Bruce-Gordyne, formerly a conservative Treasury Minister: right-of-centre democracies are 'almost as greedy' for govermment to spend as their left-wing counterparts. Both are susceptible to lobbies that can pledge the votes of their supporters and demand that their priviliges are paid for by the taxpayer.     

BASTIAT VERSUS BLAIR

Bastiat describes the ideal of a free society with government limited to protecting life, liberty and property. Thatcherism approached Bastiat's ideal more closely than any other twentieth-century government. Despite the rhetoric of the 'Third Way,' in some respects New Labour has gone beyond Thatcherism, for example in its education and health policies and in giving independence to the Bank of England. However, New Labour has increased taxes, extended regulation and shows authoritarian tendencies.