The Impact of Innovation in Small Industrial Operations to Increased Competitiveness： Empirical Evidence

The present research work in the Small and Medium Enterprise （SME） and industrial sector explains the impact of the relationship among innovation in the SME operations of Aguascalientes to find the most competitive one; to this end, a questionnaire was intended for managers where the results have been analyzed using the statistical package Structural Equation Modeling Programs （EQS） support which through structural equations has responded to the objective. In this sense, it can be concluded that innovation has a positive relationship with the operations and in turn, this relationship shows a positive impact on the competitiveness of SMEs in Aguascalientes. For this study, a sample of 150 companies has been used.     

Uncovering emotions and insights evoked by paper currency

Despite the pervasiveness of paper currency in market exchanges, consumer research has focused only on its effects based on denomination and physical appearance. Previous work noted that the physical appearance of paper currency elicits emotions such as disgust and pride. However, no other research to date has uncovered additional emotions elicited by bills. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to uncover the series of emotions elicited by paper currency and (2) to expose additional insights. Consumer narratives were collected using the critical incident technique. Both elicited emotions and insights were identified and classified according to existing classifications of emotions and money insights in the literature. Our study revealed a unique set of emotions and insights not previously classified in prior research. Implications for practice and directions for future work are noted.     

Workers with Disabilities: Exploring the Hiring Intentions of Nonprofit and For-profit Employers

Using the Theory of Planned Behavior as a conceptual framework, focus groups were held with nonprofit and for-profit employers in order to examine behavioral intentions to hire workers with disabilities. Content analysis revealed the following main themes: (1) For-profit hiring strategies were driven by a mission to sell a product or service; (2) Nonprofit hiring strategies were driven by a mission to serve the community; (3) Forprofit hiring and nonprofit hiring were impacted by the economy; (4) Although driven to have diverse workforces, the number of workers with disabilities was largely unknown; and (5) Employer attitudes mattered and impacted job opportunities for people with disabilities. Implications of this qualitative study highlight the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the role that nonprofit managers and leaders may play in improving employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.     

Effects of the perceived diagnosticity of presented attribute and brand name information on sensitivity to missing information

Four experiments demonstrated that as the perceived diagnosticity of the presented information increases, sensitivity to missing diagnostic information decreases. However, experts were sensitive to missing information regardless of the diagnosticity of the presented attribute information. When a well-known brand name was paired with the attribute information, novices were insensitive to missing information regardless of the diagnosticity of the presented attribute information. Implications of the results for understanding information utilization and omission neglect are discussed.     

The impact of social media and offline influences on consumer behaviour. An analysis of the low-cost airline industry

This study analyses the impact of social media as well as offline environments upon tourist online purchase and recommendation behaviour of low-cost airline services. Drawing on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), this research considers the effect of offline social influences (interpersonal and external influences) and analyses online Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) information exchanges as a driver of customer attitude towards online purchases. We propose that these factors improve online repurchase intentions and positive word-of-mouth communication (WOM and e-WOM) in low-cost settings. Using structural equation modelling, the conceptual model is tested with a sample of 441 Spanish Internet buyers of low-cost airline services. Interpersonal offline influences (e.g. friends, relatives, and family) have a significant effect on online repurchase intentions and WOM but do not affect e-WOM. External offline influences (e.g. media and experts), however, only affect consumer intentions to recommend future purchases of low-cost airline services on social networking travel sites and have no effect on online repurchase intentions or WOM. Findings also show that online C2C information exchanges influence attitude which, in turn, has a significant effect on repurchase intentions WOM and e-WOM.     

Web aesthetics effects on perceived online service quality and satisfaction in an e-tail environment: The moderating role of purchase task

This study examines the effects of the two dimensions of web aesthetics, aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal, on consumers' perceived online service quality and satisfaction during service encounter. The findings showed that, between task-oriented and task-free consumers, the patterns of the effects of the two dimensions of web aesthetics on perceived online service quality and satisfaction are dissimilar. However, regardless of the presence or absence of purchase tasks, aesthetic formality significantly influences perceived online service quality, and aesthetic appeal significantly influences satisfaction. In addition, the effect of aesthetic appeal on satisfaction is negative for task-oriented consumers. Managerial implications on how to manipulate web aesthetics to achieve superior online service quality and high consumer satisfaction are offered.     

Solar-powered cold-storage and agrifood market modernization in Nigeria

Modern cooling technologies that utilize renewable energy sources have been increasingly recognized as promising tools to address various challenges emerging in progressively complex agrifood systems in developing countries. Knowledge gaps about the actual impacts of these technologies in developing countries remain, especially in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA). This study fills this knowledge gap by providing evidence from the evaluation of recent interventions in northeast Nigeria in which seven small solar-powered cold storages were installed across seven horticulture markets. Combinations of difference-in-difference (DID) and variants of propensity-score-based methods suggest that cold storage significantly increased horticulture sales volumes and revenues of market agents. Back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate that increased net revenues for market agents may be sufficiently large to recoup cold storage investments and operating costs within a reasonable time frame. Using cold storage also reduced the share of food loss. It lengthened the products' shelf-life while raising prices received by market agents and farmers, which were associated with improved product quality, expanded value-adding activities by market agents, and increased use of advance payments.