eWOM & Referrals in Social Network Services

If a few decades ago the development of the Internet was instrumental in the interconnection between markets, nowadays the services provided by Web 2.0, such as social network sites (SNS) are the cutting edge. A proof of this trend is the exponential growth of social network users. The main objective of this work is to explore the mechanisms that promote the transmission and reception (WOM and referrals) of online opinions, in the context of the SNS, by buyers of travel services. The research includes some research lines: technology acceptance model (TAM), Social Identification Theory and Word-of-Mouth communication in virtual environment (eWOM). Based on these theories an explicative model has been proposed applying SEM analysis to a sample of SNS users’ of tourist service buyers. The results support the majority of the hypotheses and some relevant practical and theoretical implications have been pointed out for tourist managers

EVALUATION OF WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT AND ADOPT CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM PROJECTS AMONG SMALLSCALE FARMERS IN NJORO DISTRICT, KENYA

Carbon markets are developing world wide with the major aim of environmental protection and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Some carbon sequestration projects have been started in Kenya though it is still not yet a vibrant investment in spite of the available suitable biophysical land. Njoro district has no such project regardless of being affected by deforestation. One inevitable result has been the unpredictable rainfall pattern constituting overall climate change, increased surface run off, the low water levels in river Njoro, loss of biodiversity and the increased poverty in the region. It is still not clear if such projects are to be initiated, the smallscale farmers would be willing to accept and adopt them. There was need therefore, to assess the willingness of small scale farmers to accept and adopt carbon trade tree project in order to understand farmer’s decision making process. The study used multi-stage sampling procedure to select 150 small-scale farmers in Njoro district. Both primary and secondary data sources collected using observations and interviews with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, ordinal logit model and the double hurdle model using STATA computer programs. The results indicated that 29% of the farmers practiced tree planting/agro-forestry as the voluntary CDM practice in the study area. On the level of awareness the result indicates that 58% of the farmers were not aware of the project, 23% were aware and correct and 19% of the farmers were aware but wrong signifying low levels of awareness of the CDM project among farmers. Gender, household size, farm debt, attitude towards risk, farm size, land tenure, availability of voluntary CDM and perception of the technology were found to influence the willingness to accept the project. Further, age, extension contacts, attitude towards risk, land tenure and perception towards the technology influenced on the extent the farmer is willing to adopt. The study therefore, recommends policy interventions in increasing awareness, improved training through extension services on agro-environmental programmes, formation of agro-environmental self help groups by farmers and creation of strategies that would improve socio-economic conditions of smallholder farmers in Kenya. Through this, adoption of carbon tree trade would be successful consequently increasing carbon sinks and increased smallholder farm income hence poverty reduction and sustainable development.Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

Choosing how to choose : Institutional pressures affecting the adoption of personnel selection procedures

The gap between science and practice in personnel selection is an ongoing concern of human resource management. This paper takes Oliver´s framework of organizations´ strategic responses to institutional pressures as a basis for outlining the diverse economic and social demands that facilitate or inhibit the application of scientifically recommended selection procedures. Faced with a complex network of multiple requirements, practitioners make more diverse choices in response to any of these pressures than has previously been acknowledged in the scientific literature. Implications for the science-practitioner gap are discussed

The development of a model for predicting passenger acceptance of short-haul air transportation systems

Meaningful criteria and methodology for assessing, particularly in the area of ride quality, the potential acceptability to the traveling public of present and future transportation systems were investigated. Ride quality was found to be one of the important variables affecting the decision of users of air transportation, and to be influenced by several environmental factors, especially motion, noise, pressure, temperature, and seating. Models were developed to quantify the relationship of subjective comfort to all of these parameters and then were exercised for a variety of situations. Passenger satisfaction was found to be strongly related to ride quality and was so modeled. A computer program was developed to assess the comfort and satisfaction levels of passengers on aircraft subjected to arbitrary flight profiles over arbitrary terrain. A model was deduced of the manner in which passengers integrate isolated segments of a flight to obtain an overall trip comfort rating. A method was established for assessing the influence of other links (e.g., access, terminal conditions) in the overall passenger trip

Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

Over the last few years, the concept of online loyalty has been examined extensively in the literature, and it remains a topic of constant inquiry for both academics and marketing managers. The tremendous development of the Internet for both marketing and e-commerce settings, in conjunction with the growing desire of consumers to purchase online, has promoted two main outcomes: (a) increasing numbers of Business-to-Customer companies running businesses online and (b) the development of a variety of different e-loyalty research models. However, current research lacks a systematic review of the literature that provides a general conceptual framework on e-loyalty, which would help managers to understand their customers better, to take advantage of industry-related factors, and to improve their service quality. The present study is an attempt to critically synthesize results from multiple empirical studies on e-loyalty. Our findings illustrate that 62 instruments for measuring e-loyalty are currently in use, influenced predominantly by Zeithaml et al. (J Marketing. 1996;60(2):31-46) and Oliver (1997; Satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. New York: McGraw Hill). Additionally, we propose a new general conceptual framework, which leads to antecedents dividing e-loyalty on the basis of the action of purchase into pre-purchase, during-purchase and after-purchase factors. To conclude, a number of managerial implementations are suggested in order to help marketing managers increase their customers’ e-loyalty by making crucial changes in each purchase stage

Environmental Dynamics in Animal Waste Reclamation in the Scaling up of Livestock in Thailand

Thailand has seen a scaling up of pig production in numbers and structure. Nonetheless, in-house separation and agricultural reclamation of pig solid waste are common practice. Waste reclamation is not taking place under small-scale farming and its environmental dynamics cannot be simply understood as a direct projection to larger scales. Scaling up has transformed the environmental significance of waste reclamation, including waste transfer from livestock to agriculture farmers. Waste transfer benefits pig farmers by trade and removal of waste by agriculture and aquaculture farmers and is key to the environmental dynamics of pig production. However, waste reclamation is not clearly defined as a management option in environmental frameworks. Waste management is mainly addressed as in-farm wastewater with limited attention to agro-environmental values of present practices. To recognise present practices in agro-environmental policies this thesis suggests a descriptive strategy focused on the transfer of waste. Such strategy would avoid command-and-control norms, avoid conflicting with an environmental culture centered in biogas technology and support knowledge transfer in agriculture. A focus on waste transfer from animal farms to agriculture [and aquaculture] plots is interpreted as off-site waste management. Off-site waste management calls for the inclusion of geographical variables beyond animal farms. This leads to an extended area of environmental influence (EAEI). Resulting environmental dynamics allows an interpretation of environment beyond resource in classical agricultural geography to a connotation where environment is also significant to agriculture and livestock because of the impacts from production. The recognition of reclamation practices and, consequently, of the integral environmental dynamics, and hence the connotation of environment, would contribute to connect livestock with agriculture through environmental geography. Intensive livestock is then defined as distribution and not location. Formalisation of reclamation practices entails the acknowledgment of agro-ecological cycles in livestock

Effect of Trust and Ease Of Popularity of Interest Transaction System to Improve Online Website PT KAI (A Study on Passenger Train in Semarang Tawang Station)

The purpose of this research is to Investigate the Effects of Trust, Easy of System, Popularity System and the effect the popularity of the system on an on-line transaction. The study was conducted at passengers KAI Semarang Tawang Station, the sample size is about 125 passengers. The data is processed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) roomates assisted by the application program of Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) version 18.0. According to the analysis, it is concluded as the followings: easy of system has a positive effect on the popularity of the system; trust has a positive effect on the popularity of the system; popularity of the system has a positive effect on the on-line transaction; easy of sytem has a positive effect on the on-line transaction; trust has a not effect on the on-line transaction

Making intelligent systems team players: Overview for designers

This report is a guide and companion to the NASA Technical Memorandum 104738, 'Making Intelligent Systems Team Players,' Volumes 1 and 2. The first two volumes of this Technical Memorandum provide comprehensive guidance to designers of intelligent systems for real-time fault management of space systems, with the objective of achieving more effective human interaction. This report provides an analysis of the material discussed in the Technical Memorandum. It clarifies what it means for an intelligent system to be a team player, and how such systems are designed. It identifies significant intelligent system design problems and their impacts on reliability and usability. Where common design practice is not effective in solving these problems, we make recommendations for these situations. In this report, we summarize the main points in the Technical Memorandum and identify where to look for further information

Users' trust in information resources in the Web environment: a status report

This study has three aims; to provide an overview of the ways in which trust is either assessed or asserted in relation to the use and provision of resources in the Web environment for research and learning; to assess what solutions might be worth further investigation and whether establishing ways to assert trust in academic information resources could assist the development of information literacy; to help increase understanding of how perceptions of trust influence the behaviour of information users