Satisfied with red tape? Leadership,civic duty,and career intention in the military

We examine how the coerciveness of HR procedures and leadership behaviours affect job satisfaction (JS) and career intention (CI), and how civic duty (CD) mediates these relationships. Within the framework of the human resource management performance chain, we draw on leadership and motivational theories and test the proposed relations in a structural equation model with data from a survey of the Federal Armed Forces Germany (n = 1,331). The findings show that the behaviour of supervisors, rather than red tape, influences JS and CI. The results extend our understanding of the interplay between leadership behaviours and followership attitudes under high degrees of organizational coercion.     

Is Background Music Effective On Retail Websites?

Web designers often advise online retailers against incorporating background music on websites. However, the effect of music in brick-and-mortar retail settings has generally been found to be favorable. The research on the effects of music has been mixed. Our study aims to examine whether congruent music on the website homepage influences online consumers. Using the responses of 290 visitors to two different commercial websites, we test the influence of background music on consumers’ arousal and pleasure perceptions. The results indicate congruent background music on a website's homepage will generate positive affective responses of arousal and pleasure within users, and will enhance users’ perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment as well. The findings reveal the effects of respondent’ affective responses to the music differed by gender. Website music produces significant affective and cognitive responses in high web skill/low web challenge users and explains more of website enjoyment.     

A multidisciplinary approach to denials prevention

Children's National Medical Center's approach to preventing denials and managing response to audits includes the following: Mapping out problem areas in the claims submission process and developing solutions with the help of a multidisciplinary team. Using case managers to help prevent denials and assist in the appeal of rejected claims. Requesting oral reconsideration of pended claims and supporting attending physicians in orally responding to the payer's medical team regarding the case.     

Trialling a method to quantify the ‘cultural services’ of the English landscape using Countryside Survey data

Increasing pressure on natural resources driven by population growth and higher levels of individual resource consumption have led to the need to measure and ultimately place values on the diversity of ecosystem services supported by land in order to manage it appropriately. The complexity underlying the provision of many seemingly simple ecosystem services, e.g. drinking water, make the process of identifying and making appropriate measures far from simple. Cultural services, defined as the nonmaterial benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, comprise a range of experiences of nature which enhance human well-being in a variety of ways. Measurement of the experiential benefits of ecosystems has proved difficult, despite their acknowledged importance. This paper describes a novel approach for providing measures of cultural services at national scale (England). The interdisciplinary approach described combines data from a national survey of the biophysical components of the UK countryside with data collected from regional assessments of experiential qualities of landscape in England. The paper discusses the results, merits and limitations of the datasets and approaches used.     

Retention of latent segments in regression-based marketing models

Product design and marketing mix decisions for segmented markets depend crucially on the correct specification of marketing models used as input to these decisions. With real-world data, the true number of segments in a market is unknown. Current evidence from simulation studies suggests that the accuracy of commonly used criteria for determining the number of segments in a market depends on the usage context, including the type of distribution being used to describe the data, the model specification, and the characteristics of the market. This study investigates via simulation the performance of seven segment retention criteria used with finite mixture regression models for normal data. This is one of the most important analysis contexts in marketing research since regression models are used, for example, in conjoint analysis and market response analysis, yet no previous study in either the marketing or statistics literatures explores the segment retention problem for mixture regression models. The study shows that one criterion, Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) with a per-parameter penalty factor of 3 (AIC3), is clearly the best criterion to use across a wide variety of model specifications and data configurations, having the highest success rate and producing very low parameter bias. Currently, this criterion is rarely, if ever, used in the marketing literature.     

“搜索”淘金潮

“众里寻他千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处。“中国排名第一的搜索引擎公司——百度公司的名字取自辛弃疾的千古名篇《青玉案·元夕》。从千年前的寻爱之旅到21世纪的搜索成功之路，百度仅仅走了不到5年的时间。     

UNLISTED TRADING PRIVILEGES,LIQUIDITY, AND STOCK RETURNS

In this study we examine the effect of dual trading through unlisted trading privileges (UTPs) on liquidity and stock returns. Stocks with UTPs trade in a different market structure than stocks listed and traded only on the AMEX and NYSE. Differences in market structure may affect stock returns through liquidity services provided by the competing markets. The sample comprises 852 AMEX and NYSE firms that began unlisted trading on the Philadelphia, Pacific, Midwest, or Cincinnati exchanges between 1984 and 1988. The results show significantly positive abnormal returns around the SEC's announcement of a regional exchange's filing for UTPs. The results also suggest that increased competition improves trading liquidity. Only stocks with low liquidity before UTPs announcements experience significantly improved liquidity and positive stock returns.