When corporate policies and consumer values collide: Examining the relationship between religion and controversial business decisions

Religion appears to play a very important role in people\u27s lives in the United States. Some companies, however, continue to make business decisions which appear to be contrary to the value systems of a majority of consumers in the United States. Although past descriptive research has confirmed that religiousness influences consumers\u27 and marketing managers\u27 ethical judgments of their own behavior, this research has not explored the influence of religion in the buyer-seller dyad. To fill this gap in the consumer behavior literature, this study uses the Hunt-Vitell theory of ethics to help explain how consumers\u27 religiosity influences their ethical judgments of controversial business decisions and examines if there is any spillover in consumers\u27 marketplace behavior towards the firm. To test the hypotheses of this study, structural equation modeling was used to analyze data obtained from a national consumer sample consisting of 531 respondents. Results demonstrated that consumers\u27 ethical judgments of a controversial business decision are predominantly influenced by consumers\u27 intra-personal religious (spiritual) commitment rather than their inter-personal (organizational) religious commitment. In addition, conservative Christian beliefs appear to contribute largely to the ethical judgments of Christian consumers. Furthermore, results confirmed spillover in the marketplace and found that consumers\u27 ethical judgments of a controversial business decision not only influence their complaint intentions, but also their intention to stay loyal to the firm. Managerial implications and directions for future research are provided

Adjuvant radiotherapy after radical cystectomy for patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer : a phase II trial

Background: Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy with extended pelvic lymph node dissection is considered to be the treatment of choice for patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Despite this aggressive treatment the outcome is poor and ultimately, 30% of the patients with >= pT3 tumors develop a pelvic recurrence. We hypothesize that postoperative adjuvant external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) might prevent local and lymph node recurrence and improve disease free-and overall survival as loco-regional recurrence is linked to the development of distant metastasis. Methods: We plan to perform a multicentric prospective phase two study including 76 patients. Eligible patients are patients with MIBC, treated with radical cystectomy and presenting with >= 1 of the following characteristics: - Pathological (p) T3 stage + presence of lymphovascular invasion on pathological examination - pT4 stage - < 10 lymph nodes removed - positive lymph nodes - positive surgical margins Patients will have a F-18-FDG PET-CT to rule out the presence of distant metastasis prior to EBRT. A median dose of 50 Gy in 25 fractions is prescribed to the pelvic lymph node regions with inclusion of the operative bladder bed in case of a positive surgical margin. Patients with suspected lymph nodes on PET-CT can still be included in the trial, but a simultaneous integrated boost to 74Gy to the positive lymph nodes will be delivered. Blood and urine samples will be collected on day-1 and last day of EBRT for evaluation of biomarkers. The primary endpoint is evaluation of acute >= Grade 3 intestinal or grade 4 urinary toxicity, in case of a neo-bladder reconstruction, within 12 weeks after EBRT. Secondary endpoints are: assessment of QOL, late RTOG toxicity, local control, disease free survival and overall survival. Biomarkers in urine and blood will be correlated with secondary survival endpoints. Discussion: This is a prospective phase 2 trial re-assessing the feasibility of adjuvant radiotherapy in high-risk MIBC

Hedonic and Utilitarian Value and Patient Satisfaction: Perceptual Differences between Patients and Providers

Healthcare is continually evolving to meet changing governmental regulations and a new emphasis on patient perceptions of quality care. Governmental mandates create a shift in focus from volume-based to value-based reimbursement for providers. The purpose of this article is to identify satisfaction drivers with particular emphasis on similarities and differences between the perceptions of hospital patients and providers. A combination of quality-based healthcare, stakeholder theory, and services literature points to key service outcomes including expectations, quality, value, and satisfaction. Multiple group structural equations modeling provides a vehicle for examining differences in relationships among these constructs between these two key stakeholders, patients and providers. Results suggest that utilitarian value is central to successful healthcare service experiences. But, the results also suggest differences between patients and providers in the way they believe utilitarian value affects outcomes; the results suggest that healthcare providers may underestimate utilitarian value’s role relative to patient perceptions

M & L Jaargang 21/5

Ann Verdonck, Piet Swimberghe en Veerle De Houwer Een edel en verfijnd genot. Polychromie in de woonkamer van woning Billiet te Brugge. [Noble and refined delight. A polychrome design for the living room of the Billiet house in Bruges.]Roger Deneef, Lydie Mondelaers en Susanne Van Aerschot-Van Haeverbeeck Het Sint-Kamillusgesticht te Bierbeek, monument voor een levensbeschouwing. [Saint-Camilllus Psychiatric Asylum at Bierbeek, monument to an ideology.]Lode De Clercq Vondsten van muurschilderingen in de Sint-Jacobskerk in Antwerpen. [Wall paintings discovered in Saint-Jacobs Church in Antwerp.]Linda Van Dyck en Marie-Hélène Ghisdal Een vroeg-15de-eeuwse muurschildering met de voorstelling van de man van smarten in de kathedraal van Antwerpen. Prachtige fragmenten van een minutieus uitgevoerde schildering.Dirk Van Eenhooge Middeleeuwse Brugse huizen: bouwhistorisch onderzoek in de huizen in Sint-Jacobs en Den Ancker. [Medieval Houses in Bruges (2): In Sint-Jacobs and Den Ancker.]Summar

Understanding consumer intention to participate in online travel community and effects on consumer intention to purchase travel online and WOM: an integration of innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust

The growing presence of online travel communities is leading to great developments in the travel industry. Grounded in the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this paper seek to develop and empirically test a comprehensive framework to examine the antecedents of customers' intention to participate in online travel community. Using SEM to analyse the data collected from a sample of 495 members, the results indicate that innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust provide an appropriate model for explaining consumers' intention to participate; this intention in turn has a positive influence on intention to purchase and positive WOM. Furthermore, religiosity plays an important role in understanding consumers' behavioural intention. The results offer important implications for online service provider and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of online travel community

Faith and Fair Trade: The Moderating Role of Contextual Religious Salience

Normative and historical arguments support the idea that religion potentially shapes decisions to support fair trade products. That said, the question of how religion influences organizational decision-makers to purchase fair trade products in a business-to-business context has remained largely unaddressed. This research examines the interactive effect of individual religious commitment and contextual religious salience on an individual's willingness to pay a price premium for a fair trade product, when buying on behalf of an organization. Findings from two experimental studies (involving 75 and 87 working individuals, respectively) reveal that the effect of a decision-maker's religious commitment on his or her willingness to pay a price premium, for the purchase of a fair trade product on behalf of an organization, is moderated by the contextual salience of religion. Specifically, when religion is highly salient in the organizational context, religious commitment is positively related to the decision-maker's willingness to pay a premium for the fair trade product; when contextual religious salience is low, religious commitment and willingness to pay a premium are unrelated. Implications for theory and practice are presented. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

REQUITE: A prospective multicentre cohort study of patients undergoing radiotherapy for breast, lung or prostate cancer

Purpose: REQUITE aimed to establish a resource for multi-national validation of models and biomarkers that predict risk of late toxicity following radiotherapy. The purpose of this article is to provide summary descriptive data. Methods: An international, prospective cohort study recruited cancer patients in 26 hospitals in eight countries between April 2014 and March 2017. Target recruitment was 5300 patients. Eligible patients had breast, prostate or lung cancer and planned potentially curable radiotherapy. Radiotherapy was prescribed according to local regimens, but centres used standardised data collection forms. Pre-treatment blood samples were collected. Patients were followed for a minimum of 12 (lung) or 24 (breast/prostate) months and summary descriptive statistics were generated. Results: The study recruited 2069 breast (99% of target), 1808 prostate (86%) and 561 lung (51%) cancer patients. The centralised, accessible database includes: physician-(47,025 forms) and patient-(54,901) reported outcomes; 11,563 breast photos; 17,107 DICOMs and 12,684 DVHs. Imputed genotype data are available for 4223 patients with European ancestry (1948 breast, 1728 prostate, 547 lung). Radiation-induced lymphocyte apoptosis (RILA) assay data are available for 1319 patients. DNA (n = 4409) and PAXgene tubes (n = 3039) are stored in the centralised biobank. Example prevalences of 2-year (1-year for lung) grade >= 2 CTCAE toxicities are 13% atrophy (breast), 3% rectal bleeding (prostate) and 27% dyspnoea (lung). Conclusion: The comprehensive centralised database and linked biobank is a valuable resource for the radiotherapy community for validating predictive models and biomarkers. Patient summary: Up to half of cancer patients undergo radiation therapy and irradiation of surrounding healthy tissue is unavoidable. Damage to healthy tissue can affect short-and long-term quality-of-life. Not all patients are equally sensitive to radiation "damage" but it is not possible at the moment to identify those who are. REQUITE was established with the aim of trying to understand more about how we could predict radiation sensitivity. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and summary of the data and material available. In the REQUITE study 4400 breast, prostate and lung cancer patients filled out questionnaires and donated blood. A large amount of data was collected in the same way. With all these data and samples a database and biobank were created that showed it is possible to collect this kind of information in a standardised way across countries. In the future, our database and linked biobank will be a resource for research and validation of clinical predictors and models of radiation sensitivity. REQUITE will also enable a better understanding of how many people suffer with radiotherapy toxicity