An empirical assessment of commercial web-based professor evaluation services

We examined the validity of data found on a popular web-based, user-created commercial professor evaluation service, RateMyProfessors.com (RMP), in business school settings. We compared publicly available RMP data for two business schools with official faculty evaluations unavailable to the public. We find that students rate professors significantly lower on RMP than on official university evaluations. However, we also find that the rankings of official university evaluations and RMP are significantly correlated (p < .001), with correlation values high enough to provide useful data to students.     

Faith at Work Scale (FWS): Justification,Development, and Validation of a Measure of Judaeo-Christian Religion in the Workplace

Workplace spirituality research has sidestepped religion by focusing on the function of belief rather than its substance. Although establishing a unified foundation for research, the functional approach cannot shed light on issues of workplace pluralism, individual or institutional faith-work integration, or the institutional roles of religion in economic activity. To remedy this, we revisit definitions of spirituality and argue for the place of a belief-based approach to workplace religion. Additionally, we describe the construction of a 15-item measure of workplace religion informed by Judaism and Christianity – the Faith at Work Scale (FWS). A stratified random sample (n = 234) of managers and professionals assisted in refining the FWS which exhibits a single factor structure (Eigenvalue = 8.88; variance accounted for = 59.22%) that is internally consistent (Cronbach’s α = 0.77) and demonstrates convergent validity with the Faith Maturity Scale (r = 0.81, p > 0.0001). The scale shows lower skew and kurtosis with Mainline and Catholic adherents than with Mormons and Evangelicals. Validation of the scale among Jewish and diverse Christian adherants would extend research in workplace religion.     

Destination positioning opportunities using personal values: Elicited through the Repertory Test with Laddering Analysis

While in many travel situations there is an almost limitless range of available destinations, travellers will usually only actively consider two to six in their decision set. One of the greatest challenges facing destination marketers is positioning their destination, against the myriad of competing places that offer similar features, into consumer decision sets. Since positioning requires a narrow focus, marketing communications must present a succinct and meaningful proposition, the selection of which is often problematic for destination marketing organisations (DMO), which deal with a diverse and often eclectic range of attributes in addition to self-interested and demanding stakeholders who have interests in different market segments. This paper reports the application of two qualitative techniques used to explore the range of cognitive attributes, consequences and personal values that represent potential positioning opportunities in the context of short break holidays. The Repertory Test is an effective technique for understanding the salient attributes used by a traveller to differentiate destinations, and Laddering Analysis enables the researcher to explore the smaller set of consequences and personal values guiding such decision making. A key finding of the research was that while individuals might vary in their repertoire of salient attributes, there was a commonality of shared consequences and values. This has important implications for DMOs, since a brand positioning theme that is based on a value will subsume multiple and diverse attributes. It is posited that such a theme will appeal to a broader range of travellers, as well as appease a greater number of destination stakeholders, than would an attribute-based theme.     

PURCHASING AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: INTERACTIONS,POLICIES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The mechanisms are examined by which environmentally informed business practices and technologies may diffuse through industry as a result of the ‘greening’ of purchasing and supply. The efforts of official bodies in the UK to raise environmental awareness among industrial purchasers are reviewed. It is then argued that the supply chain model is an important way of interpreting the industrial landscape from a green perspective and that it is in some ways a more hopeful and positive starting point for achieving industrial transformation. The results of an analysis of some UK companies practices in using their purchasing policies to ‘green’ their supply chains are presented and opportunities for further research indicated.     

The determinants of corporate divestment in the UK

It has been widely suggested that since the early 1980s many diversified firms narrowed the scope of their activities by refocusing on their core businesses, primarily through divestment activity. This study examines the extent and determinants of divestment across a large sample of UK firms over the period 1985–1989. Divestment is analysed using both a proportions and count data (Poisson and negative binomial regressions) approach. The results confirm that corporate divestment is not merely a reflection of managerial idiosyncrasies or mean reversion behaviour in the activities undertaken, but is a purposeful response to exogenous change in a manner broadly consistent with both the agency theoretic and strategic views of the firm.     

Residental energy use: An investigation of consumers and conservation strategies

It is often assumed that energy conservation in the domestic sector can be achieved by technical innovation and higher prices supported by media exhortation. This paper argues that the impact of such policies is influenced by both consumers' personal characteristics and the structural or contextual conditions confronting them. The concept of energy literacy is described and shown to be related to energy saving behaviours and housing tenure, a contextual barrier for tenants given the nature of present energy conservation strategies.A field experiment is reported in which savings in household energy consumption were achieved by a strategy involving motivation, information, and consumption feedback. By itself, consumption feedback had no effect. It is concluded that energy conservation policy must take account of consumers' personal and contextual characteristics and aim to improve both energy literacy and structural conditions. In achieving the former, strategies which involve personal advice and generate the involvement of the consumer may have more impact than mass media campaigns.

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Häuslicher Energieverbrauch: eine Untersuchung von Verbrauchern und von Strategien zur Energieeinsparung

Zusammenfassung Häufig wird angenommen, daß häusliche Energieeinsparung am besten durch eine Kombination baulicher Maßnahmen zur Gebäudeisolation, finanzieller Anreize, höherer Energiepreiser und von Kampagnen in den Medien erreicht werden kann. Bisher haben solche Maßnahmen jedoch nur wenig Erfolg gehabt. Wenn die Massenmedien auch das allgemeine Bewußtsein für Energiefragen angeregt haben, so werden diese Fragen doch nur von einer bestimmten Verbrauchergruppe deutlich gesehen — von wohlhabenden Besitzern von Wohnungseigentum. Einsparungen, die möglich sind, sind jedenfalls bisher noch nicht realisiert. Die Gründe dafür liegen in persönlichen und situativen Voraussetzungen bei den Verbrauchern.Der Beitrag besteht aus zwei Teilen. Teil I berichtet über eine Umfrage, in der ermittelt werden sollte, welche Verbrauchereigenschaften zum Energiebewußtsein beitragen und ob das Energiebewußtsein auch den tatsächlichen Energieverbrauch beeinflußt. Eine wichtige Variable ist der Hausbesitz. Geringeres Energiebewußtsein bei Mietern wird darauf zurückgeführt, daß Mieter weniger Handlungsspielraum haben und nur wenig Vertrauen in die Erfassung des tatsächlichen eigenen Energieverbrauchs haben.Teil II berichtet über ein Feldexperiment zur Wirkung von Maßnahmen, die eine tägliche Rückmeldung des eigenen Energieverbrauchs liefern, von solchen, die über individuelle Möglichkeiten der Energieeinsparung informieren, und von kombinierten Informations-und Rückmeldungs-Maßnahmen. Drei entsprechende Versuchsgruppen wurden mit einer vierten Kontrollgruppe einer 2×2 Varianzanalyse unterzogen. Informationsmaßnahmen führten zu einer signifikanten Verringerung des Heizenergie-Verbrauchs. Rückmeldung alleine führte zu keiner nennenswerten unmittelbaren Einsparung, regt aber das Interesse am eigenen Energieverbrauch an und hilft in Verbindung mit Informationsmaßnahmen dabei, die effektivsten Einsparungsmöglichkeiten zu finden.Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, daß durch persönliche Beratung und Motivierung des einzelnen Verbrauchers mehr erreicht werden kann als durch Kampagnen in den Medien.

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George Gaskell is a Lecturer and Richard Pike is a Research Assistant at the Department of Social Psychology, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, Aldwych, London WC2A 2AE, England. The research was supported by a grant from the Energy Panel of the Social Science Research Council.     

Developing an evolutionary tourism partnership model

Partnerships have become a popular tourism management strategy for leveraging scarce resources in an era of fiscal constraint. Despite this popularity, little empirical research has been done to explain the processes that occur when such interactions take place. An evolutionary model is presented based on an empirical study of three tourism partnerships, a review of existing tourism partnership case studies, and the integration of emerging theory from the organizational behavior field. The model suggests that tourism partnerships begin in a context of environmental forces and evolve sequentially through problem-setting, direction-setting, and structuring phases. Special facultative skills are needed to sustain and nurture tourism partnerships.