Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in Consumer Electronics E-Tailers: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The E-S-QUAL and E-RecS-QUAL scales have been successfully tested in a study by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Malhotra (2005). However, E-S-QUAL and E-RecS­ QUAL are newly developed and lack specific application to different types of e-business. This non-experimental, correlational study is the first to examine and explore the relationships among electronic service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty for consumer electronics e-tailers. Using quota and snowball sampling, participants from the continental United States received e-mail invitations and voluntarily forwarded the e-mail invitations to their friends and family. A total of 276 participants completed the online survey. This study\u27s demographic characteristics included most between the ages of 26 and 35 years (47%), mean age of 35.2, most with graduate degrees (40.6%), and with 40% earning a family income of $75,000 or more. Out of twenty hypotheses (including four sub-hypotheses for H1 and three for H2) in this study, 13 were supported, two were marginally supported, and five were not supported. Findings indicated that electronic service quality was measured by online shoppers\u27 perceptions of service quality of consumer electronic e-tailers through four dimensions of the 17-indicator modified E-S-QUAL (efficiency, system availability, fulfillment, and privacy) . Electronic recovery service quality was measured by online shoppers\u27 perceptions of recovery service quality of consumer electronic e-tailers through two dimensions of modified E-RecS-QUAL (responsiveness and contact, and compensation). Findings also indicated that perceived value and customer satisfaction were two significant variables that mediated the relationships among customer expectations, electronic service quality, customer loyalty, and customer complaints. However, this study also found that electronic service quality and customer expectations had no direct effect on customer satisfaction, but had indirect positive effects on customer satisfaction for consumer electronics e-tailers. Consumer electronics e-tailers\u27 managers could formulate plans to improve service quality and recovery service quality through dimensions of E-S-QUAL and E­ RecS-QUAL. They also could formulate a competitive strategy based on the modified Electronic Customer Satisfaction (e-CS) model to keep current customers and to enhance customer relation management. The limitations and recommendations for future research are also included in this study

Determinants of B2C EC Success on Market Performance of Different Sizes of Firms in Taiwan's E-Brokerage Sector

Guided by a financial model, this study is the first to integrate Miles and Snow's (1978) strategic typology as an external industry effect and the resource-based view of the firm as an internal effect to explain market performance of different firm sizes in business-to-consumer e-commerce firms. Factors such as strategy types, CEO commitment to e-commerce, Web site design, and IT system integration capabilities were empirically investigated. Findings showed that prospector strategy utilized by large e-brokers significantly outperformed analyzer, defender, and reactor strategies in online market share. Top managers of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) should choose defender or analyzer strategies to gain market performance. Large firms indeed outperformed SMEs in online market share. In addition, large firm's CEO commitment to e-commerce, Web site design and IT system integration capabilities and Web age were explanatory factors for online market share but had no effect on both market performances for SMEs. Managerial implications and future study are recommended

Factors of Employee’s E-Learning Effectiveness: A Multi-Level Study Based on Socio-Technical Systems Theory

Application of e-learning in enterprises provides the advantages of lower training cost, richer learning content, higher information consistency, and easier update of content. Despite the fact that enterprises have the intention to introduce e-learning, there is not a complete framework to which they can refer to ensure the benefits of e-learning for employee training or learning and understand which important factors affect employee’s e-learning effectiveness. Relative to the difficulties of introducing e-learning in management practice, the academic achievements in this aspect also seem very limited. Most the existing papers are focused on discussion and survey of e-learning in school, and very few of them are dedicated to empirical research of e-learning in corporate environment. Besides, these studies discuss e-learning only at the technical or the individual level without a comprehensive investigation into the factors affecting e-learning effectiveness with multi-level theoretic framework. This paper applies the socio-technical systems theory to review and integrate theories about employee e-learning from a macro view. To make up the insufficiency of related research, literature review and case research are conducted first. Based on the interview results, an analysis model is constructed to thoroughly explore factors affecting employee’s e-learning effectiveness. Later, through a questionnaire survey on employees’ adoption of e-learning and subsequent multi-level data analysis, hypotheses on the relationship of the influencing factors and the research model are verified. Results show that e-learning effectiveness (usefulness of e-learning, continuance intention to use, and e-learning performance) is simultaneously or alternately affected by direct or moderating factors of the technical system and the social system at the work environment level and the individual level. Compared with the existing research, this paper uses a more comprehensive system view to construct the theoretical model and empirically verify it. The results can be a reference for future researchers and managers of e-learning in enterprises

The Impact on the Brazilian Economy of the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro in 2016

Purpose: This study aims to examine the influence of channel power and influence strategy, in terms of non-coercive strategies, on sanitary equipment manufacturers' relationships with channel members and channel performance.   Theoretical framework: The study is based on the literature on channel relationships, which suggests that using an influence strategy can contribute to managing the relationship with the channel members and benefit organization performance.   Design/Methodology/Approach:  In this study, we sampled from a sanitary equipment manufacturer's channel strategy. We used survey data to examine the effect of channel management strategies from sanitary equipment manufacturers on distributors.   Findings: The finding indicates that a supplier using economic power tends to adopt non-coercive strategies. In addition, economic power and non-coercive strategies positively affect the continuity of the relationship with distributors. Relationship continuity between manufacturers and distributors positively impacts whole channel performance.   Originality/Value: This study sampled the distributors in the sanitary equipment industry, a market in which the consumers are not knowledgeable about the products. Most consumers base their purchase decisions heavily on the channel member’s recommendations. Therefore, how to manage the relationship with the channel members is critical to understand.   Research, Practical & Social implications: Distributors are regarded as an extension of the company's sales capabilities. Channels have always held an essential position in the industry. Maintaining relationships between distributors and improving channel performance is a critical question in distribution management

STATISTICAL OPTIMIZATION AND STABILITY STUDY OF QUERCETIN-LOADED MICROEMULSION

Objective: This research aims to develop a quercetin microemulsion system to improve the solubility of quercetin and to study the stability of the microemulsions. Methods: The microemulsion is prepared by water titration method using isopropyl myristate (oil), Tween 60®/Span 80® (3:2) (surfactant) and ethanol (co-surfactant). Two different aqueous phases, water or NaCl solution, were used to prepare microemulsions and the influence of each parameter was described. DPPH scavenging and anti-tyrosinase activity were performed along with chemical stability to evaluate the functional stability of microemulsions. Results: The influence of percentage of oil phase (variable A) on the solubility of quercetin was less significant than that of percentage of surfactant/co-surfactant (variable B). Compared to those prepared with water (variable C), the solubility of quercetin in microemulsions prepared with NaCl solution significantly increased. The ratio of the high level to low level for solubility of three variables was 1.135, 1.315 and 1.591 respectively. Increasing variable A and B led to an increase in the particle size of microemulsions from 120.08 nm to 188.38 nm and 48.18 nm to 260.28 nm, respectively. The influence of variable B was quite significant, while variable C has no significant effect on particle size. Quercetin microemulsions showed good chemical and functional stability when stored at 4 °C. Under other conditions, especially at 40 °C, the activity of the microemulsion is considerably reduced. Conclusion: The influence of different variables on the characteristics of microemulsions was complicated. Care must be taken in the composition and storage conditions of these formulations

A Constitutively Mannose-Sensitive Agglutinating Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Serovar Typhimurium Strain, Carrying a Transposon in the Fimbrial Usher Gene stbC, Exhibits Multidrug Resistance and Flagellated Phenotypes

Static broth culture favors Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium to produce type 1 fimbriae, while solid agar inhibits its expression. A transposon inserted in stbC, which would encode an usher for Stb fimbriae of a non-flagellar Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium LB5010 strain, conferred it to agglutinate yeast cells on both cultures. RT-PCR revealed that the expression of the fimbrial subunit gene fimA, and fimZ, a regulatory gene of fimA, were both increased in the stbC mutant when grown on LB agar; fimW, a repressor gene of fimA, exhibited lower expression. Flagella were observed in the stbC mutant and this phenotype was correlated with the motile phenotype. Microarray data and RT-PCR indicated that the expression of three genes, motA, motB, and cheM, was enhanced in the stbC mutant. The stbC mutant was resistant to several antibiotics, consistent with the finding that expression of yhcQ and ramA was enhanced. A complementation test revealed that transforming a recombinant plasmid possessing the stbC restored the mannose-sensitive agglutination phenotype to the stbC mutant much as that in the parental Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium LB5010 strain, indicating the possibility of an interplay of different fimbrial systems in coordinating their expression

Application and comparison of scoring indices to predict outcomes in patients with healthcare-associated pneumonia

Introduction: Healthcare-associated pneumonia HCAP is a relatively new category of pneumonia. It refers to infections that occur prior to hospital admission in patients with specific risk factors following contact or exposure to a healthcare environment. There is currently no scoring index to predict the outcomes of HCAP patients. We applied and compared different community acquired pneumonia CAP scoring indices to predict 30-day mortality and 3-day and 14-day intensive care unit ICU admission in patients with HCAP. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on an inpatient database from six medical centers, recruiting a total of 444 patients with HCAP between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2007. Pneumonia severity scoring indices including PSI pneumonia severity index, CURB 65 confusion, urea, respiratory rate, blood pressure , age 65, IDSA/ATS Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society, modified ATS rule, SCAP severe community acquired pneumonia, SMART-COP systolic blood pressure, multilobar involvement, albumin, respiratory rate, tachycardia, confusion, oxygenation, pH, SMRT- CO systolic blood pressure, multilobar involvement, respiratory rate, tachycardia, confusion, oxygenation, and SOAR systolic blood pressure, oxygenation, age, respiratory rate were calculated for each patient. Patient characteristics, co-morbidities, pneumonia pathogen culture results, length of hospital stay LOS, and length of ICU stay were also recorded. Results: PSI > 90 has the highest sensitivity in predicting mortality, followed by CURB-65 >= 2 and SCAP > 9 SCAP score area under the curve AUC: 0.71, PSI AUC: 0.70 and CURB-65 AUC: 0.66. Compared to PSI, modified ATS, IDSA/ATS, SCAP, and SMART-COP were easy to calculate. For predicting ICU admission Day 3 and Day 14, modified ATS AUC: 0.84, 0.82 , SMART-COP AUC: 0.84, 0.82, SCAP AUC: 0.82, 0.80 and IDSA/ ATS AUC: 0.80, 0 .79 performed better statistically significant difference than PSI, CURB- 65, SOAR and SMRT-CO. Conclusions: The utility of the scoring indices for risk assessment in patients with healthcare-associated pneumonia shows that the scoring indices originally designed for CAP can be applied to HCAP

Accumulation of epicardial fat rather than visceral fat is an independent risk factor for left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis

BACKGROUND: Symptoms of heart failure with preserved left ventricular systolic function are common among patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). Epicardial fat (EpF) is an ectopic fat depot with possible paracrine or mechanical effects on myocardial function. The aim of our current study is to assess the association between EpF and Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in patients undergoing PD and to clarify the relationships among EpF, inflammation, and LVDD in this population. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 149 patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function who were undergoing PD. LVDD was diagnosed (according to the European Society of Cardiology guidelines) and EpF thickness measured by echocardiography. The patients without LVDD were used as controls. The serum inflammatory biomarker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) was measured. The location and amount of adipose tissue were assessed by computed tomography (CT) at the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra. RESULTS: Subjects with LVDD had higher levels of hsCRP, more visceral and peritoneal fat, and thicker EpF (all p < 0.001) than controls. Visceral adipose tissue, hsCRP, and EpF all correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with LVDD. Multivariate regression analysis rendered the relationship between visceral adipose tissue and LVDD insignificant, whereas EpF was the most powerful determinant of LVDD (odds ratio = 2.41, 95% confidence interval = 1.43–4.08, p < 0.01). EpF thickness also correlated significantly with the ratio of transmitral Doppler early filling velocity to tissue Doppler early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E/e’; r = 0.27, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: EpF thickness is significantly independently associated with LVDD in patients undergoing PD and may be involved in its pathogenesis