Trust as a key factor in successful relationships between consumers and retail service providers

Previous research has shown that trust plays a key role in the development of stable relationships between a service provider and its customers, and many authors have devoted considerable attention to identifying its antecedents and consequences. The aim of this study is to investigate these issues in the context of retail travel agencies, a service setting where new information technologies are questioning personal relationships and where the concepts of service quality and customer loyalty have become critical for differentiating from competitors.     

Model for measuring carrying capacity in inhabited tourism destinations

Portuguese Economic Journal - Sustainable development of tourist destinations, of any scale, such as countries, regions or municipalities, is hampered by the challenges that sustainability...     

The Role of Market Orientation In Business Dyadic Relationships: Testing an Integrator Model

Over the last decade market orientation and relationship marketing have been huo of the most outstanding fields of research within Marketing discipline. However, little at tention has been devoted towards the investigation of the interface existing between both concepts. The aim of this study is to overcome this deficiency. Thus, the paper begins with a review of the existing literature into relationship marketing and market orientation as well as their main constructs. The result of this analysis is the proposal of a theoretical causal model in which the cultural market orientation that buyer firms show appears as a conditioning factor of their loyalty towards a supplier. Next, the methodology followed as well as the empirical contrast of the model proposed are thoroughly presented. R e empirical data was obtained from huo personal surveys conducted on the same sample of 141 industrial companies. Finally, results, conclusions and practical implications are discussed. In this way, the research proves that a buyer firm’s cultural market orientation acts as an indirect antecedent to the degree of loyalty shown to its main supplier.     

Prior knowledge and social networks in the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities

In this study we analyze the effects of prior knowledge and social networks on the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. The prior knowledge considered is associated with the successes and failures experienced in the entrepreneurial trajectory and, therefore, derived from the exploitation of prior opportunities. In analyzing social networks, we examine the strength of the relationships between entrepreneurs, managers and entrepreneurial associations. As an explanatory factor of the entrepreneurial process, we also include the influence of the entrepreneurial opportunities recognized. Through a hierarchical regression analysis, we show that the number of potential opportunities recognized, the number of previous opportunities successfully exploited and the strength of entrepreneurial social networks positively influence the number of opportunities developed and exploited.     

The effects of manufacturer's organizational learning on distributor satisfaction and loyalty in industrial markets

The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of organizational learning (OL) on satisfaction and loyalty in industrial markets. A conceptual model, in which the unit for analysis is the dyadic relationship between manufacturers and their main distributor, is proposed and tested. The empirical results showed that the manufacturer's OL is an antecedent of the relational outcomes achieved in business relationships. Specifically, increased OL in the manufacturer has a direct effect on the main distributor's degree of satisfaction and an indirect effect on his loyalty. It is also confirmed that the manufacturer's OL has a direct effect on the manufacturer's business performance. However, we found that links between OL and satisfaction and OL and loyalty are not changed by market turbulence.     

Old crop versus new crop prices: Explaining the correlation

Although competitive storage theory has proven successful in explaining many patterns for commodity prices, some features are not understood. While standard models predict low correlation between future prices with delivery dates before and after the harvest, the data suggest otherwise. To correct this, I assume that harvests appear continuously rather than at a single moment. This addition to the standard model allows me to link preharvest and postharvest markets to the same source of supply, and hence obtain the empirically observed high correlation. Empirical evidence also suggests that my assumptions are realistic. Results are robust to different parameter specifications.     

The Debate on Pension Systems: The Paradigmatic Cases of Chile and Spain

This article is focused on pension systems in the light of two case studies that are antagonistic within the capitalist economy. On the one hand, the Spanish pension scheme, based on the principle of intergenerational solidarity, was achieved by the working‐class after decades of struggle. It constitutes the backbone of the Spanish social security system, thanks to the creation and development of indirect and deferred wages. On the other hand, the Chilean pension scheme, first imposed by the Pinochet dictatorship, is based on a funded system and private management. It rejects the principle of solidarity and, therefore, it makes impossible the construction of a decent pension structure. The comparison of the Spanish and the Chilean pension systems can be expressed in just one revealing fact: while the average pension in Spain is 79 percent of the last salary earned, benefits in Chile barely reach 33 percent for male workers and 25 percent for female workers. The analysis of both cases is framed in terms of the critique of political economy, in direct opposition to the current mainstream in economics. Instead of assuming methodological individualism and a harmonious view of human societies, as orthodoxy does, the critical paradigm conceives of capitalist economy as a dialectical process determined by the existence of social classes with different and opposed interests.     

A qualitative approach to the intangible cost of road traffic injuries

The consequences of fatal and non-fatal road traffic injuries (RTI) at the personal and household levels were analysed using qualitative interviews of 12 injured and of 12 relatives of people who died for this reason. Collisions change physical and mental health both of the injured and of their relatives. This leads to changes in daily activities and even to the redefinition of future life. RTI also changes the way people see and act in life, becoming an experience that teaches them. Survivors commonly transmit a road safety message afterwards. Changes in family life were evident (in extreme cases family's composition also changed), affecting intra-familial relationships. Associated unexpected and unplanned expenditures and loss of income have consequences in the short, medium and long term that unbalance household's economies and immerse people into a constant stress. Individuals and family's future plans are occasionally condition to whether they have or not debts. Household dependence in economic terms was sometimes observed, as well as uncertainty about future life and household's sustainability. Sometimes, households change and adapt their life to what they now are able to afford, having important repercussions in vital spheres.     

On the ‘Disclosure Initiative – Principles of Disclosure’: The EAA Financial Reporting Standards Committee’s View

Abstract

This paper summarises the contents of a comment letter produced by a working group of 12 academics in response to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Discussion Paper on principles of disclosure. The comment letter was submitted by the Financial Reporting Standards Committee (FRSC) of the European Accounting Association (EAA). The work includes reviews of relevant academic literature of areas related to the various questions posed by the IASB in the Discussion Paper, including the ‘disclosure problem’ and the objective of the project, the suggested principles of effective communication, the roles of the primary financial statements and notes, the location of information and the use of performance measures. The paper also discusses the disclosure of accounting policies, the objectives of centralised disclosure, and the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board staff’s approach to disclosure.