Attitudes of Georgia Irrigators Regarding the Use of Water Meters

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide information, in terms of these three stages, about the position of Georgia irrigators with regard to the adoption of water meters. Understanding where farmers are in the HEM can be useful to policy makers in deciding the mix of promotion, incentives, and regulation needed to encourage the adoption of water meters. Working Paper # 2003-00

Measuring the effect of customer relationship management (CRM) components on the non financial performance of commercial banks: Egypt case

This paper presents customer relationship management (CRM) components as applied on the Egyptian Commercial Banks, examined from the bankers' point of view. Then, it intends to measure their effect on the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty from the customers’ point of view as examples of the non financial performance measures. The paper is quantitative in nature and consists of two different structured questionnaires using convenience/quota sampling. The first involved 180 employees in order to measure CRM applicability, and the second involved 270 customers to measure the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty and their effect on the Egyptian Commercial Banks' financial performance The findings show that the selected banks apply CRM components but the level of application differs from one bank to another. The results showed a significant positive relationship between CRM and customer satisfaction in the Egyptian Commercial Banks, when applying them together and not separately. In addition, there is a strong positive effect between customer satisfaction and loyalty which was reflected on the Commercial Banks' financial performance. The findings confirm the importance of studying and implementing CRM to achieve customer loyalty and improve the Egyptian Commercial Banks financial performance. Banks wishing to improve their relationships with customers need to focus on the CRM components to develop relevant and effective marketing strategies and tactics. The paper measures the CRM as a multidimensional construct as applied on the Egyptian Commercial Banks and relate it to the achievement of the ultimate goal of retaining customers to gaining a sustainable competitive advantage and achieve more profits

From post-consumption experience evaluation to online generated content and intensification

En el contexto de los museos, el presente trabajo analiza hasta qué punto la evaluación de la experiencia in situ (satisfacción y valor percibido) que realizan los visitantes refuerza sus comportamientos online a corto plazo (consultar y generar contenido online). Sobre la base de la teoría del equilibrio y de la teoría del nivel óptimo de estimulación, proponemos la existencia de un efecto de la evaluación de la experiencia que adoptará forma de U invertida sobre la intensificación y forma de U sobre la intención de generar contenido online después de la visita. Los resultados indican que la satisfacción fomenta la intención de consumir más contenido, mientras que la percepción de haber alcanzado el máximo valor lo limita (efecto U invertida). Por otro lado, si bien la satisfacción y la percepción de una visita rentable motivan a los visitantes a publicar comentarios, las malas experiencias en los museos no tienen ningún impacto en la generación de contenido online.In the context of museums, this paper analyses to what extent visitor evaluation of the in situ experience (satisfaction and perceived value) drives their short-term online behaviours (visiting online content and generating content in online sites). On the basis of the balance theory and on the optimal stimulation level theory, it proposes that the evaluation of the experience has an inverted U-effect on visit intensification while a U-effect on the intention to generate content after the visit. Findings indicate that satisfaction fosters the intention to consume further content, while the perception of having gained the maximum value limits it (inverted U-effect). On the other hand, while satisfaction and the perception of a profitable visit motivate visitors to post online comments, poor experiences in museums have no impact on the generation of online content

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Positive expressive technologies for social wellness

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Drawing on research from the fields of HCI, social and positive psychology, this thesis investigates the design of technologies that encourage the expression of positive emotions. In parallel, it details the deployment of effective design steps to guide, frame and eventually support understandings of positive mental and social usage effects of technology. Different artefacts termed PosiPost have been iteratively developed as exemplars for the discussion and exploration of the ways in which technologies can support positive communication and social sharing. Studies with these technologies have been conducted to explore how these can encourage positive communication and understand how they contribute to social wellness. Specifically, the studies undertaken validate the hypothesis that the sharing of positive emotions as mediated by technology has beneficial social and mental effects. The first stage of the research examined whether and how social technology can be designed for positive affect. A theoretical framework, named THE Medium model was developed to support the design process. Furthermore, design considerations were produced for technologies that encourage the sharing of positive emotions. This latter involved two studies, paper-based and online, which showed the potential for a prefixbased elicitation of positive emotions and drove the design and development of a mobile tool called PosiPost Me (Mobile edition). The second stage of the design process focused on how positive emotions can be mediated by technology in a mobile context and how such tools were used and understood. The iterative design study process continued, resulting in PosiPost Be, a Bluetooth edition, which allows sharing of positive messages with people in close proximity to explore the social and potential positive effects of contextualizing posiposting by adding location as a factor. Results suggest that by using a prefix-strategy, messages of a positive and mundane nature can be shared and mediated by mobile technology. Analysis of the shared messages provides insights into people’s pleasant moments in daily life. A questionnaire instrument named SPOT was developed and used for the measurement of the effects of sharing pleasant moments with the developed mobile expressive technologies in further detail. The results suggest that lightweight positive expressive technologies can have beneficial social wellness effects. In particular, the study showed significant beneficial effects in reducing depressed feelings and increasing social interest in others. Participants also believed that the mobile PosiPost applications supported social connectedness, socio-pleasure, social and positive awareness, and positive thinking

Boost Customer Loyalty With Online Support: The Case Of Mobile Telecomms Providers

The paper explores the effect of customer satisfaction with online supporting services on loyalty to providers of an offline core service. Supporting services are provided to customers before, during or after the purchase of a tangible or intangible core product, and have the purpose of enhancing or facilitating the use of this product. The Internet has the potential to dominate all other marketing channels when it comes to the interactive and personalized communication that is considered quintessential for supporting services. Our study shows that the quality of online supporting services powerfully affects satisfaction with the provider and customer loyalty through its effect on online value and enjoyment. Managerial implications are provided.marketing ;