Critical factors associated with relationship conflicts and group atmosphere among Taiwanese adolescents

This paper investigates relationship conflict amongst Taiwanese adolescents. The data was taken on Taiwanese adolescents aged 15–17 who attended 16 high schools which are located in north, middle, south, and the east of Taiwan. They were invited to participate in the study during the 2010 school year. This paper explores the patterns among relationship conflict including its impact, the social dimensions, the time aspects, the psychological implications, the physical dimensions, and the performance and overall risks involved in group atmospheres. The ways relationship conflict handling styles correlate with the group atmosphere were also explored. Each one of the risk variables’ correlations and relationship conflict were explored. As part of this study upon correlating each one of the risk variables and relationship conflict, the researchers studied the correlations between the risk variables and the group atmosphere.     

Zahlungsbereitschaft für grünen Strom: Zunehmende Kluft zwischen Wunsch und Wirklichkeit

This paper presents evidence on preferences for green electricity, drawing on two stated-preference surveys conducted in 2013 and 2015 among 6000 households. It uncovers a strong contrast between the households – rising general acceptance of supporting renewable energy technologies and their shrinking individual willingness-to-pay for green electricity.     

Modelling perceived quality,visitor satisfaction and behavioural intentions at the destination level

Visitor perceptions of the quality of a tourist destination, satisfaction with their experience and the resulting behavioural intentions are vital for successful destination management and marketing. The purpose of our research is to explore the complex relationships between these constructs using structural equation modelling, whereby both formative and reflective constructs are included. The structural model was tested on a sample of 1056 visitors at four tourist destinations in Slovenia. The empirical validation of the conceptual model supports the research hypotheses. Destination attributes affect the perceived quality of tourist offerings, which positively relates to satisfaction as well as visitors' behavioural intentions. The link between satisfaction and behavioural intentions was also confirmed. These research findings contribute to a better understanding of which behavioural mechanisms and factors represent a viable basis for increasing customer retention at the level of individual providers as well as a destination as a whole.     

The challenge of recruiting control groups. An experiment of different recruitment models in the control group of a clinical psychological postal survey

Recruitment of a large and reliable control group is a challenge in psychological survey based research. The effect of recruitment styles and age on response-rate, data quality, and individual differences were investigated in a control group for a postal survey of elderly bereaved people. This study was a direct reaction to the first recruitment attempt that had a 10% response rate. This study consisted of four groups of randomly selected elderly married people (65–81 years) receiving a postal questionnaire measuring depression, social support, coping style, adult attachment, life satisfaction, and personality factors. All groups were exposed to a set of general initiatives (customized introduction letter with university letterhead; self-addressed, prepaid envelope included; personally directed letter signed by the researcher; an assurance of confidentiality). Three groups were exposed to different specific initiatives (short non-sensitive questionnaire, recorded response, and monetary incentive independent of response) to increase the response-rate. The results indicated that general initiatives and information letters apparently increased the response-rate from 10 to 31%. Monetary incentive had the highest response-rate (51%), good data quality, and no sampling bias in individual differences. This method can be highly recommended in future control group recruitment.     

The Role of Retail Equity,Value and Relational Benefits in Building B2B Relationships in Retailing

Abstract

The present paper aims to examine if variables widely studied in B2C contribute to building strong relationships in B2B markets. Moreover, it analyzes the existence of differences across retailers related to percentage of purchases from the main supplier. Through a personal survey to retail store managers regarding their relationships with their main suppliers, a structural equation model is estimated through PLS to test the hypothesized relations between retail equity, value, relational benefits, trust, and commitment. A multi-group analysis is performed to test the moderating role of the percentage of purchases from the main supplier. Three types of relational benefits identified have unequal influence on relationship value. In particular, special treatment benefits and social benefits, together with retail equity, emerge as the main drivers of value in the relationship between retailers and their main suppliers. The percentage of purchases from the main supplier plays a moderating role in some of these relations. This research provides evidence in the sense that, in the relations held by retailers with their main suppliers, retail equity contributes to relationship value creation. Relational benefits are relevant in building B2B relations since special treatment and social benefits have a positive influence on value that is positively related to trust and commitment. To build strong relations with their customers, suppliers of retailers should mainly concentrate their efforts on building brand equity and providing evidence of the existence of special treatment benefits beyond the service delivered, in view of its ultimate influence on customer trust and commitment.     

Physically freeing: breaking taboos through online displays of the sexual self

ABSTRACT

This research specifically looks at the societal taboo of presenting an overtly sexualised self in a public forum. Specifically, we investigate the way in which technology is being used to mediate sexual experiences between individuals and larger online communities. The research takes an exploratory look at why some users engage in Technology-Mediated Sexual Encounters (TMSEs) and the impact that these online sexual encounters can have on one’s sense of self, perceptions of freedom and expression. Beyond fantasy seeking, novel experiences, and instancy of TMSEs, the importance of perceptions of power and dominance during a TMSE are discussed, as well as the emancipatory feelings associated with being free to break taboo. The impact of engaging in TMSEs and their use in understanding sexuality and expectations of physical sexual experiences is also discussed. The implications from this research include a better understanding of how technology is being used to express one’s self online in taboo contexts.     

HRM as a Significant Factor for Achieving Competitiveness through People: The Croatian Case

This paper evaluates the quality of human resource management (HRM) in Croatia because excellent human resource (HR) policies, programs and activities enable enterprises to maximize their workforce productivity. The research was conducted in enterprises with more than 200 employees. The value of HRM was assessed using the HR audit approach. Fifty-five HR indicators were analyzed from the top 10 Croatian HR enterprises to serve as benchmarks for the final sample of 80 enterprises. Results indicate Croatian enterprises have deficient HR practices, on average. Independent sample t-tests showed 61.82% of HR indicators were significantly better in the benchmark firms. Consequently, HRM in Croatia can not be considered solid ground for achieving competitiveness through people.

Livelihood diversification strategies in the Himalayas*

This article examines livelihood diversification strategies of rural households using survey data from the Himalayas. We present and explore an analytical framework that yields different activity choices as optimal solutions to a simple utility maximization problem. By classifying the range of activities of rural households into a few distinct categories based on their profitability and by considering portfolios of farm and non‐farm activities, we provide novel insights into diversification behaviour of rural households. The evidence shows that while the poor are mainly agricultural labourers and work in the low‐return non‐farm sector, the better‐off diversify in high‐return non‐farm activities. As expected, we find strong evidence that education plays a major role in accessing more remunerative non‐farm employment. A somewhat less intuitive finding is that larger household size is associated with higher probability of diversification into the high‐return non‐farm sector. The finding that the farm size is not a constraint to diversification in lucrative non‐farm employment is also surprising. Geographical location plays a role in diversification behaviour of rural households indicating the importance of local context.