Why do gamers buy 'virtual assets'? An insight in to the psychology behind purchase behaviour

The present study investigated the phenomenon of buying 'virtual assets' for game avatars. Virtual Assets are items that are bought with real-world money for an avatar in-game. Weapons, items, pets, mounts and skin customisations are the most popular examples. Using a qualitative methodology - in this case Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) - six gamers that regularly bought in - game assets were interviewed. IPA was chosen because of its emphasis on lived experience, and each participant had subjective experiences of gaming and purchase behaviour. Of particular focus in this study were the superordinate themes of motivations for purchase behaviour, the resulting psychological impact on the gamer, the social benefits of gaming and virtual asset purchasing, emotional attachment, self-expression through the avatar, impulsivity versus thoughtfulness in purchase intention, and the impact of a transaction machinery on the 'game experience'. Motivations that were found to be of particular importance were item exclusivity, function, social appeal, and collectability. It was found that virtual items enable the gamer to express themselves, feel real satisfaction, and build lasting friendships. Essentially, virtual assets and gaming mostly had a very positive impact on the participant’s psychological wellbeing. Implications for gamers and games production companies are considered

Can Accountable Care Organizations Improve the Value of Health Care by Solving the Cost and Quality Quandaries?

Explores proposed models and configurations of accountable care organizations, which combine provider payment and delivery system reforms, and their potential to slow the rise of healthcare costs. Outlines key issues and program features under debate

Organizing for Higher Performance: Case Studies of Organized Delivery Systems

Offers lessons learned from healthcare delivery systems promoting the attributes of an ideal model as defined by the Fund: information continuity, care coordination and transitions, system accountability, teamwork, continuous innovation, and easy access

Gestão de carreiras, qualidade de vida no trabalho e retenção de RH qualificados no setor do turismo e da hotelaria em Portugal

The employment relationship in contemporary organisations is undergoing fundamental changes which have complex implications for the attraction, motivation, retention, and performance of highly qualified employees. Despite its reputation of precarious working conditions and high turnover rates, the T&H industry is changing, and higher-level skills are being required. Having become a growing career choice, questions arise regarding the industry’s ability to contribute to long-term growth and retention of T&H professionals. The purpose of this research is to contribute to a deeper understanding of work experiences of highly educated individuals in the hotel sector, and on how these experiences have been shaping retention and career longevity. This study attempts to contribute to offer new insights and nuanced, critical understanding of career dynamics in the T&H industry, grounded on the capitalisation of dedicated T&H tertiary education. A constructivist-interpretivist stance with a critical orientation is taken, seeking to highlight the underlying complexity of analysing the various themes involved in this study. This research adopts a multi-method qualitative (QUAL→qual) research design. The research approach relies on in-depth, first-hand accounts of three groups of purposefully selected participants at different career stages: Employees (graduates currently employed in the industry), Leavers (graduates no longer working in the industry), and Newcomers to the labour market (students majoring in T&H-related degrees). The core component of the study is based on in-depth interviews with a total of 56 informants nationwide, with different job positions in the hotel sector. The three groups offered diferente viewpoints of career experiences and decisions, feelings and perceptions on T&H. A supplementary component, aimed at providing deeper explanations within the context of the core component, involved the consultation of a set of key actors in the T&H industry and experts from different disciplines. By extending existing research on Hospitality careers, turnover intention, and quality of working life, this study makes a relevant contribution to understanding the employee perspective on how Hospitality careers unfold. The study findings encapsulate the multi-faceted and complex nature of career decisions and trajectories. Special emphasis is given to the cognition of quality of working life, a largely untapped topic in the existing T&H literature, informing the way people give meaning to work/career experiences. Findings reveal that an interplay of factors influence the relationship between graduates’ perceptions and evaluation of work experiences and their intentions regarding on joboccupational permanence or change. By discussing the T&H industry ability to remain competitive as a long-term career choice, this study thus seeks to make theoretical and practical contributions which may have wider implications for a higher valuation of T&H jobs and careers.As relações laborais nas organizações contemporâneas têm vindo a sofrer mudanças substanciais, das quais resultam implicações complexas para a atração, motivação, retenção e desempenho de profissionais altamente qualificados. A indústria do T&H, conotada por elevadas taxas de rotatividade e condições de trabalho precárias, tem vindo cada vez mais a exigir competências de nível mais elevado aquando dos processos de recrutamento. Tendo-se tornado uma escolha de carreira com previsão de crescimento, surgem questões relativas à capacidade da indústria do T&H contribuir para o desenvolvimento e retenção a longo prazo dos seus profissionais. Esta investigação tem como objetivo contribuir para uma maior compreensão das experiências de trabalho de indivíduos altamente qualificados no setor Hoteleiro e sobre como estas experiências têm moldado a sua retenção e a longevidade da sua carreira. Este estudo procura, ainda, contribuir com novas perspetivas sobre as dinâmicas de desenvolvimento de carreira na indústria do T&H, com base na capitalização da formação superior dedicada a esta área. Ao adotar uma abordagem epistemológica construtivista-interpretivista, com uma orientação crítica, este estudo procura destacar a complexidade subjacente à análise dos vários temas abordados. Esta investigação adota, ainda, uma abordagem de investigação qualitativa multi-método (QUAL→qual), baseada em relatos de três grupos de participantes, selecionados com base num método de amostragem intencional: Employees (diplomados atualmente empregados na indústria), Leavers (diplomados que já não trabalham na indústria), e Newcomers (estudantes do Ensino Superior em T&H), perfazendo um total de 56 entrevistas. As entrevistas ofereceram diferentes pontos de vista sobre as suas experiências e decisões de carreira, sentimentos e perceções sobre a indústria do T&H. Com o objetivo de aprofundar a interpretação destes dados foi desenvolvida uma componente suplementar, que envolveu a consulta de um conjunto de peritos e atores-chave na indústria. Ao estender a investigação existente sobre o desenvolvimento das carreiras, intenções de saída e qualidade de vida no trabalho no setor da Hotelaria, este estudo contribui de forma relevante para a compreensão da perspetiva dos trabalhadores sobre a forma como as carreiras no setor se desenrolam. Os resultados do estudo traduzem a natureza multifacetada e complexa das decisões e trajetórias de carreira. É dada especial ênfase ao conceito de qualidade da vida no trabalho, um tópico ainda pouco explorado em T&H, destacando a forma como as pessoas dão sentido e valorizam as suas experiências de trabalho/carreira. Os resultados revelam que a interação de vários fatores influencia a relação entre as perceções dos trabalhadores qualificados e a avaliação que estes fazem das suas experiências de trabalho e das suas intenções relativamente à permanência ou à mudança de emprego/carreira. Ao discutir a capacidade da indústria do T&H para se manter competitiva como uma escolha de carreira a longo prazo, este estudo procura fazer contribuições teóricas e práticas que podem ter implicações mais vastas para uma maior valorização das profissões e das carreiras na indústria do T&H.Apoio financeiro da FCT, no âmbito do POCH - Programa Operacional do Capital Humano, comparticipado pelo Fundo Social Europeu e por fundos nacionais do Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior.Programa Doutoral em Turism

Organizing the U.S. Health Care Delivery System for High Performance

Analyzes the fragmentation of the healthcare delivery system and makes policy recommendations -- including payment reform, regulatory changes, and infrastructure -- for creating mechanisms to coordinate care across providers and settings

Value Perceptions Of Basic Clinical Laboratory Assistant Training With Certification

This study examined the perception of the value of medical laboratory science (MLS) program training and validation of that training with respect to entry-level clinical laboratory professionals. The demand for clinical laboratory professionals is increasing due to the number of retirees expected to peak by 2024 and is expected to yield a two to one job vacancy gap, mainly in entry-level positions. The study examined the perceived value of such traditional educational clinical laboratory programs from the viewpoints of the MLS educators and employers to effect change efforts to better match these programs with what is required within the career path and respective employment field. Research questions asked were: how do MLS program educators describe their understanding of how traditional MLS programs of study prepare students for work in the clinical laboratory and how do clinical laboratory employers describe their understanding of how traditional MLS programs of study prepare employees for work in their clinical laboratory? A balanced mix of ten MLS program educators and clinical laboratory employers were purposively selected for 30 minute audio interviews in which Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to code themes from their verbatim interview transcripts. Study participants noted an awareness of laboratory staff shortages, limited student internships and MLS training programs in existence, the negatives of increased instrumentation within the laboratory and developmental soft skills needed to promote success of the clinical laboratorian graduate from either traditional or alternative education programs. A need for better marketing and recruitment of new students to backfill mainly the retiring staff was a paramount concern, plus additions of more mentors and trainers within internships. The prerequisite employment soft skills of communication, troubleshooting, problem solving and teamwork can be developed within intra-educational events with other clinicians within both the academic and workplace environments

Authority in the Age of Modularity

This paper builds upon on-going research into the organisational implications of 'modularity'. Advocates of modularity argue that the Invisible Hand of markets is reaching activities previously controlled through the Visible Hand of hierarchies. This paper argues that there are cognitive limits to the extent of division of labour: what kinds of problems firms solve, and how they solve them, set limits to the extent of division of labour, irrespective of the extent of the market. This paper analyses the cognitive limits to the division of labour relying on an in-depth case study of engineering design activities. On this basis, this paper explains why co-ordinating increasingly specialised bodies of knowledge, and increasingly distributed learning processes, requires the presence of knowledge integrating firms even in the presence of modular products. Such firms, relying on their wide in-house scientific and technological capabilities, have the 'authority' to identify, propose, and implement solutions to complex problems. In so doing, they co-ordinate networks of suppliers of both components and specialised competencies.modularity, division of labour limits, knowledge integrating firms

Sentara Healthcare: A Case Study Series on Disruptive Innovation Within Integrated Health Systems

Examines how integration and ties with health plans, physicians, and hospitals helped protect against revenue volatility and enabled experimentation; factors that facilitate integration; innovative practices; lessons learned; and policy implications

Recruitment, effort, and retention effects of performance contracts for civil servants: Experimental evidence from Rwandan primary schools

This paper reports on a two-tiered experiment designed to separately identify the selection and effort margins of pay-for-performance (P4P). At the recruitment stage, teacher labor markets were randomly assigned to a 'pay-for-percentile' or fixed-wage contract. Once recruits were placed, an unexpected, incentive- compatible, school-level re-randomization was performed, so that some teachers who applied for a fixed-wage contract ended up being paid by P4P, and vice versa. By the second year of the study, the within-year effort effect of P4P was 0.16 standard deviations of pupil learning, with the total effect rising to 0.20 standard deviations after allowing for selection