The power of the pen: Handwritten fonts promote haptic engagement

Consumers are increasingly bombarded with merchandise and offers, making clear the need for visually distinctive and sensorially engaging product packaging design. The current research demonstrates that the use of handwritten fonts on product packaging elicits an approach tendency and enhances haptic engagement, which influences product evaluation and choice likelihood. A pilot study quantifies the use of handwritten fonts in four grocery product categories to establish that the study of handwritten fonts as a packaging design element is a worthy one with managerial significance. Four experiments are then presented. Studies 1 and 2 use real products to show that a product label with a handwritten (vs. typewritten) font elicits haptic engagement and, enhanced product evaluations (Study 2). Study 3 identifies a boundary condition such that the focal effect is observed only for benign (safe and enjoyable) product categories, but not for risky (unsafe and dangerous) ones. Study 4 relies on a simulated store setup with actual products to illustrate the differential preference for products with a handwritten (vs. typewritten) font when choosing between brands in a benign (vs. risky) product category.     

Making sense of complex data using interactive data visualization

An important role for accountants today is to provide decision support to senior management by assisting them in the analysis of large, complex data sets. Interactive data visualization (IDV) facilitates this process by allowing users to navigate, select, and display data via an easy-to-use interface often used as a component of data analytics. Given the increasing popularity of IDV as a tool for making sense of complex data, it is important that accountants become familiar with and learn how to use this technology. This case provides a hands-on opportunity to organize complex accounting data to create IDVs for decision makers to use. Further, the case enables students to understand the potential impact of IDVs on preparers and users of accounting information. Students will assume the role of a division controller in a hypothetical company and create an IDV to assist the chief executive officer (CEO) in decision making.     

A study on the importance of airline selection attributes by airline type: An emphasis on the difference of opinion in between Korean and overseas aviation experts

The main purpose of this research is to understand the relative importance of airline selection attributes that are considered important by passengers when selecting an airline. Specifically, we analyzed how the attribute selections differed based on airline types, a Full Service Carrier (FSC) and a Low Cost Carrier (LCC). For this purpose, a Delphi analysis was performed with 34 Korean aviation experts and 32 overseas aviation experts as the target sample groups. Statistical tests including Mann-Whitney U Test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, were used to analyze the selection attributes. In the case of FSCs, safety, flight schedule, cabin interior, and fast check-in processes were considered to be important selection attributes whereas for LCCs, air fare level, flight safety, the convenience of air ticket purchasing procedures, and additional charges were considered to be the important selection attributes. Additionally, there was a difference in the importance of airline selection attributes depending on whether it was a Korean or overseas aviation market. The result of these findings may be utilized as basic data in establishing a marketing strategy for an airline company to attract more passengers.     

What about people in cycle network planning? applying participative multicriteria GIS analysis in the case of the Athens metropolitan cycle network

The bicycle is gaining ground as an inexpensive, fast, healthy, and enjoyable mode of transport, but the development of cycle infrastructures appears to be a necessary prerequisite for supporting further growth in cycling rates. Thus far, few studies have developed comprehensive methodologies for the prioritisation of cycling infrastructure investments, and the role of end users has been underestimated in this process. The unique relationship that cyclists develop with the bicycle itself, their co-cyclists, bicycle facilities, and the urban environment as a result of sensory, kinaesthetic, symbolic, or even political reasons can assist in designing cycle facilities that are more efficient and closer to fulfilling the needs and desires of users. We propose a comprehensive four-step methodology for cycle network planning, which both accounts for the city structure and the zones in which higher cycling demand is possible and uses participative multicriteria GIS processes to incorporate cyclists’ views with regard to choosing the cycle network segments. Our case study is Athens, Greece, where cycling facilities are few and heavily fragmented, although cycling demand has recently grown. This methodology may be useful for cities attempting to introduce and prioritise cycling infrastructures because it focuses on determining where cyclists would prefer to cycle to make such investments more successful in attracting users.     

Consumers’ willingness-to-pay for food safety labels in an emerging market: The case of fresh produce in Thailand

Food safety systems in emerging markets are currently facing a transformation period, becoming more stringent because of an increasing demand for safer food. Consequently, policy makers need to find strategies to increase food safety while giving the industry time to improve their performance. In Thailand, policy makers have adopted the strategy of upgrading food safety standards gradually. Government and private food safety brands and labels were introduced onto the market but little is known whether Thai consumers have preferences for them or not. This study is aimed at evaluating Thai consumers’ preferences for food safety labels and brands on fresh produce, using a surveyed based on discrete-choice experiments. A sample of 350 Thai consumers was surveyed in Bangkok and Nonthaburi in 2013. Quota sampling according to the shopping outlets and convenience sampling methods were adopted. Two hundred respondents were recruited at fresh-food markets and 150 respondents were recruited at supermarkets. We found that consumers are willing-to-pay more for both government led food safety label and private brands, but that there is high heterogeneity in their preferences. The high degree of social desirability for food safety labels confirms that food safety labelling policy should be supported. However, the provision of information and credibility are vital in order to mitigate the risk of consumer deception by self-claimed labels.     

WICKEDNESS IN SOCIAL CHOICE

In an article from 1973, Rittel and Webber distinguished between ‘tame’ or ‘benign’ problems on the one hand and ‘wicked’ problems on the other. The authors argued that wicked problems occur in nearly all public policy issues. Since different groups adhere to different value-sets, solutions can only be expressed as better or worse. By no means can they be viewed as definitive or objective. In this paper we consider, from this very angle, the theory of social choice which is about the aggregation of individual preferences with the aim to derive a consistent social preference. We show that collective choice offers wicked problems of various types which differ in their degree of severity. We hereby concentrate on welfare functions and voting schemes of different kinds and discuss these in the light of various criteria such as Arrow's independence condition, Condorcet consistency, monotonicity, manipulability, and other properties.     

Does offering an organic food menu help restaurants excel in competition? An examination of diners’ decision-making

This study aims to examine whether the presence of an organic food menu can positively influence diners’ decision-making. A 3 (restaurant segment: quick service vs. casual dining vs. fine dining) by 2 (price discrepancy between competing restaurants: small vs. large) scenario-based experiment was conducted with 405 U.S. consumers. MANCOVA results indicate that using organic ingredients offers a greater advantage for the quick-service segment regarding perceived food quality, attitudes towards the restaurant, and willingness to select, compared to casual and fine dining segments. The magnitude of a premium price of organic ingredients negatively influences such advantage in the process of consumers’ decision-making. When a large (vs. small) premium price is charged for using organic ingredients, customers’ preferences for the restaurant (over its rival) significantly drops to such an extent that customers are more willing to choose the competitor (i.e., rival restaurant with a conventional menu). Discussions and implications are further elaborated.     

Equivalence of optimal noisy-ranking contests and Tullock contests

We analyze a noisy-ranking contest in which participants compete in several dimensions. The organizer randomly samples a number of dimensions and awards a prize to the most productive agent. When the contest is optimally designed, we establish a structural equivalence between this family of noisy-ranking contests and contests built upon Tullock contest success functions. Our result also shows that in this class of noisy-contests, the profit-maximization problem of the planner can be turned into a stochastic choice problem for a planner who has some deterministic preferences over the contestants’ win probabilities.