Alternate Measurement Approaches to Recreational Customer Satisfaction: Satisfaction-Only Versus Gap Scores

This study blends service quality and importance-performance methodologies to extend previous research beyond traditional customer service domains. The study examined water-based recreationists' importance and satisfaction ratings across a battery of 19 individual attributes within four domains relevant to outdoor recreation satisfaction (facilities, services, information, and recreation experience). Both the satisfaction-only item scores and gap scores (difference between importance and satisfaction level) were analyzed to determine their relationship within their respective satisfaction domain and with overall satisfaction. The satisfaction-only measures were found to be significantly better indicators than the gap scores of domain-level and overall satisfaction. The items were found to be stronger predictors within the four satisfaction domains than within the overall satisfaction model.     

International Monetary Reform: A Review Article

Original institutional economics (OIE) has three significant, but apparently contradictory, definitions of institution(s) stemming from Thorstein Veblen, John Commons, and J. Fagg Foster. In this first installment of a two-part paper I address this apparent contradiction by developing an "irenic reconciliation" of these definitions using a methodological approach I call "critical institutionalism"— a synthesis of the OIE in the tradition of the Veblen, Commons, and Foster, the pragmatism theory of Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey, the critical realist methodology of Margaret Archer, and the critical realism of Roy Bhaskar. In so doing, I provide an alternative discussion to that of some current institutionalists who propose to replace the existing OIE definitions of institution(s) with "consensual definitions" developed in the discourse with non-OIE traditions. I propose that there is still considerable analytical value in the OIE definitions, and that replacing them with non-OIE-originating concepts would unnecessarily carry OIE away from its methodological and philosophical roots. In the second installment of this paper (yet to be published), I proceed to demonstrate the analytical value these "reconciled" definitions have for the OIE project.     

A Proposed Methodological Synthesis of Post-Keynesian and Institutional Economics

Post-Keynesian and institutionalist writers have commented on the theoretical and conceptual commonalities between the two schools. Some have suggested a theoretical synthesis based on these commonalities. In spite of these theoretical and conceptual commonalities each tradition has developed significantly different methods of analysis. Instead of theoretical or conceptual synthesis we seek here to present a methodological synthesis.

Institutionalist methods have yielded "plausible" explanations, but these have been too "vague and suggestive" to be consistently used for economic policy. Post-Keynesian methods have policy necessary "rigor," but the similarity to neoclassical methods has exposed post-Keynesian theories to unwarranted synthesis with incompatible traditions.

This essay presents a synthesis of post-Keynesian and institutionalist methodology, one of "plausible rigor," combining elements of "institutional dynamics" with a heuristic framework based on John Dewey's "instrumental logic," and proposes that the resulting approach overcomes weaknesses in the methods of analysis of both schools.     

The ancient art of economics

Abstract

This article reviews ancient texts dedicated to the art of economics, narrating how the master was to manage his wife, slaves and things. The discourse on the economy of things focuses on defining the proper limits of wealth. The economy of the slaves included multiple technologies of classification, management and supervision that were to guide the master and the matron in their ‘use’ of slaves. The wife was a freeborn member of the polis who was doomed to spend her entire life in the economy as a governed subject who partakes in government only within the confines of the oikos.     

Strategic IMC: From abstract concept to marketing management tool

Although integrated marketing communication (IMC) has progressed towards mid-range maturity level, its full-scale adoption has been impeded by a lack of consensus on its defining constructs. The purpose of this study is to move from abstraction to define the construct of strategic integration (SI) and develop this into a management tool, thus making an important contribution to both the theory and practice of IMC. Drawing from both IMC and strategic management literature, the construct of SI is operationalised into a number of key factors and a well-cited management model, Fuchs' ‘integration valuator’ is explored as the starting point of a measurement tool for IMC. To do this, a Delphi study invites the scrutiny of an expert panel of world-leading IMC researchers and practitioners. The panel validated the model construction process, redefined overarching constructs and key factors with a high degree of consensus, supported a process measure, suggested a weighted evaluation measure and recognised the importance of developing such a measure. They delivered clear and consistent imperatives guiding model development. The result is a measure of SI that evaluates organisational proficiency and diagnoses the integration of IMC campaigns. It also advances theory by providing a better understanding of the construct of SI.     

论马克思关于人性假设的三个维度

人性假设是经济学的基本假设之一,有什么样的人性假设,就有什么样的适合这种人性假设的经济理论和政策意蕴。马克思经济学的人性假设有三个维度：哲学层面上人是社会关系的总和,经济层面上人是经济范畴的人格化,资本主义经济层面上人是阶级人。从方法论上看,阶级人假设与经济人假设的不同导致了马克思经济学与西方经济学根本观点的不同.     

语言学习的真实性

从真实文本、文本的真实性、语言使用的真实性和任务的真实性四个方面来分析语言学习的真实性,将有利于语言学习者理解语言学习的本质,对外语学习者和教师有一定的启示作用。     

英语报刊对比阅读教学法新探

对不同媒体对同一新闻事件的报道文章从标题、导语、主体以及措辞等方面进行比较阅读,可以使学生全面地了解新闻内容,深入地掌握语言知识,提高学生分析、写作及语言表达能力。     

WSR方法论在房地产企业管理中的应用

WSR即物理—事理—人理方法论,是我国学者将东方人文哲学融入西方系统工程方法论的成果。将WSR方法论应用于房地产开发企业管理,就是在充分理解物理—事理—人理的基础上分解房地产开发企业的管理活动,按照WSR方法论分解和实施房地产开发企业管理活动,有利于将其结构化,规范化,提高企业管理效率。