Investigating the contextual requirements of the Juster Scale

Researchers have employed the Juster Scale to collect purchase probability data with notable success. Reviewing the Juster Scale studies, however, has revealed that there is considerable variation in its per¬formance. Some of these variations appeared to be caused by the context in which the Juster Scale has been presented to respondents. This paper discusses three factors that influence the context of the Juster Scale and reports the results of a study that attempted to standardise its contextual requirements. The results substantiate further the Juster Scale's satisfactory performance in collecting purchase probability data

A methodological investigation of the Juster scale : contextual requirements and mutually exclusive behaviours : a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The relatively poor performance of intention scales to forecast future purchase behaviour turned researchers' attention to testing probability scales and the 11 point Juster Scale has become a preferred instrument for this task. The scale has undergone considerable testing and has been implemented successfully in a variety of research environments including self-completion mail surveys, telephone surveys and Internet-based surveys. Nevertheless, several methodological challenges remain, each of which produce some variation in the scale's accuracy. In particular, the review of Juster Scale literature revealed that accuracy of the scale was not consistent across product categories. This raised concerns about the reliability of the scale with both the context of the scale as it is presented to respondents and the nature of samples used to test the scale cited as possible causes for inconsistency. The review also identified two areas of development for the Juster Scale. These were to examine whether the structure of the scale could improve its performance and a problem that researchers encountered when using the Juster Scale to forecast mutually exclusive behaviours. The research carried out for this thesis aimed to address two of the four issues raised above. They were, one, to address the contextual requirements of the Juster Scale and, two, to resolve the problem that researchers encountered when using the Juster Scale to forecast mutually exclusive behaviours. Data required to address the two issues were secured by implementing two Internet-based surveys. One was carried out on the clientele of Vodafone New Zealand (Vodafone survey) and the other on a sample of the national population (New Zealand survey). The test products were WAP-capable mobile phones and the payment plans offered by mobile telephony companies. Purchase probability data for these products were obtained in separate treatments to produce the required comparisons. The review of literature identified three factors that exhibited tendencies to alter context, namely, question order, the practice of testing the Juster Scale concurrently on product categories and respondent's interpretation of the question accompanying the Juster Scale. Prior to addressing these issues, it was necessary to standardise the contextual requirements of the Juster Scale. Investigation was undertaken by implementing the Juster Scale in separate treatments with and without providing additional contextual inputs. Results showed that the Juster Scale implemented on its own without additional contextual information produced mean probability scores similar to when the scale was implemented after contextual information was provided. The Juster Scale has also been successfully employed in the forecasting of mutually exclusive behaviour. The review of literature revealed two methods namely weighting and the Constant Sum Scale for the above purpose. However, no comparisons were previously made to test whether the forecasts made by these two methods were similar or not, and this became the second major objective addressed in the current research. Investigation was undertaken by implementing the two methods in separate treatments (Weighted-scores and Constant Sum Scale) in the New Zealand survey. Results produced were mixed hence it was not possible to conclusively establish one method's superiority. The topic remains open for further investigation to test a method that is best suited for collecting probability data of mutually exclusive behaviour. The investigation on the contextual requirements of the Juster Scale concluded, at least for the test products (WAP-capable mobile phones) used in this research, that the Juster Scale is a robust forecasting instrument in a typical purchasing environment. However, contextual requirements of the Juster Scale were examined here for just one product. Future studies might investigate whether the results obtained here can be reproduced for other product categories. Results from the investigation to resolve the problem researchers encountered when using the Juster Scale in forecasting mutually exclusive behaviours were not conclusive. This research, however, showed that the Constant Sum Scale was a better instrument to produce clear data, ready for analysis. Nonetheless, the topic remains open for more investigation. In any future research, selection of test products will be crucial. Frequently purchased products may not generate the necessary comparisons. The major contribution of this thesis to the academic community is that the Juster Scale is successful in collecting probability data in a purchasing context. While the objective regarding mutually exclusive behaviour yielded less conclusive results, the research showed that either of the two methods compared (Constant Sum Scale and weighting process) could be used when respondents are confident about their behaviour

Associated Factors of Drinking Prior to Recognising Pregnancy and Risky Drinking among New Zealand Women Aged 18 to 35 Years

Nearly half of all pregnant women in the Western world drink prior to recognising pregnancy. The current study aimed to investigate the factors associated with drinking prior to recognising pregnancy among pregnant women and factors associated with risky drinking among nonpregnant sexually active women. The study was a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of women aged 18 to 35 years (n = 1062) selected from the New Zealand electoral roll. Pregnant women (currently pregnant: n = 65; previously pregnant: n = 202) who were risky drinkers and who smoked in the year prior to pregnancy had five times the odds (p < 0.01) and women who planned their pregnancy (p = 0.05) and who used a community service card (p = 0.004) had less than half the odds to drink prior to recognising pregnancy than their respective counterparts. Among sexually active nonpregnant women who consumed alcohol, those who smoked in the year prior to the survey and those who drank for social reasons, for mood enhancement or coping reasons had higher odds of being risky drinkers (p < 0.05). Addressing risky drinking, especially in social settings, and smoking among women of peak childbearing age may mitigate the potential risk of drinking prior to recognising pregnancy

A cross-sectional study on alcohol and contraception use among sexually active women of childbearing age: Implications for preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies

Background: A high proportion of unwanted or unplanned pregnancies may be alcohol-exposed due to contraception failure or non-use. Nevertheless, data on contraception and alcohol use in the context of the risk of alcohol-exposed pregnancies are sparse. Objectives: To describe contraception use and alcohol consumption in sexually active non-pregnant women and investigate the factors associated with less effective contraception methods. Study Design: A cross-sectional national survey of women aged 18–35 years. Methods: Data from non-pregnant women who were sexually active ( n  = 517) were analysed. Descriptive statistics were used to report demographics, consumption, and contraception measures. Logistic regression was used to investigate the factors associated with less effective contraception among drinkers. Results: The majority of participants were younger (46%), of NZ European ethnicity (78%), not in a permanent relationship (54%), with some or completed tertiary education (79%), employed (81%) and not users of the community services card (82%). Twenty-five percent of women were smokers, 94% consumed alcohol, and 72% binged at least ‘monthly or less’. Most women used the pill (56%), and 20% of drinking women were using a contraception method with a 10% or more annual failure rate after 1 year of use. Women who binged ‘weekly or more often’ had similar odds of using less effective contraception as women who ‘never’ binged ( p  > 0.05). Younger Māori or Pacific women (odds ratio = 5.99; 95% confidence interval of odds 1.15 – 31.2; p  = 0.033) and women who had no tertiary education (odds ratio = 1.75; 95% confidence interval of odds 0.00 – 3.06; p  = 0.052) had higher odds of using less effective contraception. Conclusion: With 20% of women at risk of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy, public health measures to address alcohol consumption and the effective use of contraception are critical to reducing the risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies in NZ

Assessment of risk of foetal alcohol syndrome and other alcohol related effects in New Zealand : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nutritional Science at Massey University (Palmerston North), New Zealand

Content removed due to copyright restrictions Appendix 11a: MIDIRS pamphlet: Informed Choice for Professionals: Alcohol and pregnancy Appendix 11b: MIDIRS pamphlet: Informed Choice for Women: Alcohol and pregnancy Appendix 12a: Request for the "Nutrition during pregnancy" dataset from the principle investigator Appendix 12b: Watson, P.E., McDonald, B. (1999). Objectives of the "Nutrition during preganancy" study. Nutrition during pregnancy. A report to the Ministry of Health, p.1. Appendix 12c: Watson, P.E., McDonald, B. (1999). Methodology of the "Nutrition during pregnancy" study. Nutrition during pregnancy. A report to the Ministry of Health, p.4-10.The current research emerged from a definite need in New Zealand and was designed to be a base-line study to provide information on a number of issues relating to alcohol consumption in pregnancy. The results of this study indicate that the prevalence of alcohol consumption in pregnancy among New Zealand women is similar to that seen in a majority of other Western countries. It also indicates that greater proportions of younger women were drinkers in pregnancy, especially in the early stages and that the majority in this age group were drinking heavily. The prevalence of drinking in pregnancy at levels currently perceived to cause foetal harm observed in this study was also similar to that seen in other Western countries, where incidence rates for the prevalence of alcohol related birth defects are well established. The encounter of midwives with outcomes associated with heavy maternal alcohol consumption further confirms the risk for the prevalence of foetal alcohol syndrome and other alcohol related effects in New Zealand, at rates similar to other Western countries. The results of this study also indicate that regular alcohol consumption exhibited a negative effect on intakes of vital nutrients like dietary folates and calcium among heavy drinking women of childbearing age and this effect is likely to continue in pregnancy. The functional role of these nutrients, pivotal to favourable outcome of pregnancy, raises concern as to what the dual consequences are of alcohol consumption and compromised nutritional status. The risk of foetal alcohol syndrome and other alcohol related effects in New Zealand is high and efforts have to be made to develop effective prevention strategies. The current research also assessed the knowledge and attitudes of midwives on the issue of alcohol consumption in pregnancy. A high proportion of midwives perceived abstinence to be the best option in pregnancy. However, this perception of the midwives is not reflected in the behaviour of clients in their practice, as the prevalence of drinking among their clients was fairly high. However, the good response to this study by midwives and their keenness for further education on the issue of alcohol consumption in pregnancy indicates that midwives are keen to play an active role in reducing the prevalence of alcohol related birth defects in New Zealand

sj-docx-1-whe-10.1177_17455057231161479 – Supplemental material for A cross-sectional study on alcohol and contraception use among sexually active women of childbearing age: Implications for preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-whe-10.1177_17455057231161479 for A cross-sectional study on alcohol and contraception use among sexually active women of childbearing age: Implications for preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies by Sherly Parackal, Mathew Parackal and Sumera Saeed Akhtar in Women’s Health</p

Schema Incongruity: A Framework for Distributing Service Forms of FMCG Brands via a Digital Channel

This paper reports an extension of schema incongruity theory to a service form of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) distributed via a digital platform. According to this theory, an FMCG brand’s service form would be incongruent compared to its traditional form available via supermarkets. Based on the relevancy and expectancy dimensions, the level of incongruence for such a service was classed as moderately incongruent. The study used qualitative research to investigate whether the moderate incongruence appealed to modern-day customers. The findings revealed that a subscription to receive a regular supply of the FMCG test brand appealed to the respondents. The moderate incongruity employed in this study was of an optimal stimulation level, enabling respondents to see the added values offered. The values recognised included convenience, family bonding, health and variety. The study observed schema incongruity theory operating for the service form of the FMCG brand. As the study used a qualitative methodology, the findings are specific to the brand and context tested. However, the high interest observed suggests schema incongruity theory could serve as a framework for using a digital distribution system to market service forms of FMCG brands

SHALLOW VS. DEEP CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT - A STUDY OF BRAND VALUE PROPOSITIONS IN TWITTER

Social Media facilitates a two-way channel between brands and customers, whereby value co-creation is enabled through customer engagement (CE) with brand value propositions. Brands proposition their values to their customers and this Marketer-Generated-Content (MGC) is propagated through social-media. The corresponding CE enables the creation of User-Generated-Content (UGC) in the form of likes, shares and comments (positive or negative). While there has been prior work on MGC/UGC, seldom has research investigated the nature of shallow vs. deep engagement for value propositions in social media. Shallow vs. deep engagement in social-media manifests in the form of likes/shares vs. comments for value propositions offered by brands. To address this gap, this paper uses a Twitter dataset of value propositions from Top-10 coffee brands comprising 658 tweets and 12077 customer responses. This work utilizes the 5-level categorization of Consumption-Value-Theory to categorize the 15 value dimensions in the tweets. Through statistical modelling this research shows that the nature of value propositions that attract shallow vs. deep engagement varies from brand-to-brand. Also, this work demonstrates that deep engagement is facilitated by complex interaction of variables over shallow engagement. These findings can help brand managers to identify and promote specific value propositions to meet their social-media objectives

IDENTIFYING AND CLASSIFYING VALUE PROPOSITIONS IN BRAND TWEETS – A STUDY OF TOP-10 COFFEE BRANDS

Brand owners have increasingly adopted social media for propositioning the values of products and services. This work scrutinizes the nature of ‘values’ embedded in the tweets as propositioned by brand owners. We extract and analyse the tweets (658 of them) posted by the owners of the top-10 coffee chains in a period of three months (August to October of 2015) for their value propositions. This paper identifies 16 different categories of values propositioned by brands. Using consumption value theory as the theoretical basis, the value categories are grouped into four broader category themes (functional, emotional, social and epistemic). The presence of values in a tweet is classified using content analysis undertaken by 4 independent raters. Our analysis of values in tweets reveals that a) different types of values exist in tweets and there are significant differences between values embedded in tweets (independent of brands), b) brands differ in the values they embed within the tweets and c) the presence of certain values stimulates user interests more than others (e.g. through retweeting or liking a tweet). The paper discusses these results in detail along with the implications of the results for marketing practice