Unionizing NCAA Division I Athletics: A Viable Solution?

This Note considers whether college athletes-specifically Division I football and men\u27s basketball players-can utilize the protections of the National Labor Relations Act to form unions. The Note examines the history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, considers whether National Labor Relations Board jurisprudence allows the application of the NLRA to college athletics, and evaluates the potential consequences of the NLRB certifying a union of college athletes. The Note argues that the NLRB should not allow college athletes to unionize, but should instead let Congress decide whether college athletes are employees under the NLRA, and, if so, how they should be regulated

Some reflections on my career, publishing, and contributing significantly to a field

En el presente artículo, el autor ofrece una perspectiva generalde sus más de tres décadas de trayectoria académica y hace un análisisretrospectivo de su evolución como investigador. Siguiendo esa perspectivay bajo un análisis amplio, el autor reseña sus 15 años de investigacióncolaborativa sobre la calidad del servicio (con sus colegas Valarie Zeithamly Len Berry), con el fin de ilustrar la naturaleza de una corriente de investigaciónprogramática sobre un tema importante y el impacto significativoque esa forma de investigar puede tener en la base y en la práctica delconocimiento de una disciplina. El autor también menciona un número deexperiencias personales que surgen de la reflexión sobre su carrera comoinvestigador, y discute las repercusiones que estas experiencias podríantener para otros investigadores. El artículo concluye con algunas observacionesy recomendaciones generales sobre cómo se puede contribuir significativamentea un campo del conocimiento

Impact of delays on costumers'safety perceptions and behavioral intentions

Purpose: The main objective of this paper is to examine how the customers' perceptions of delays and safety relate to each other and to behavioral intentions Design/methodology/approach: We modified a customer satisfaction questionnaire to include questions relating to the constructs we wanted to examine and collaborated with a major international airline to collect data from 797 customers through in-flight surveys. Findings: We obtain three key original findings. First, perceived safety exerts a direct positive effect on behavioral intentions. Second, perceived delays exert an indirect effect mediated by perceived safety. Finally, customers believe operational practices affect both delay and safety. Originality/value: This is the first paper that examines the customer's perspective on two of the most important aspects of airline operations management: delays and safety. Our findings are of great value to managers who want to evaluate the impact of delays and safety on customers and to researches interested in the theoretical relationships between these two constructs.Peer Reviewe

Attention and automation: New perspectives on mental underload and performance

There is considerable evidence in the ergonomics literature that automation can significantly reduce operator mental workload. Furthermore, reducing mental workload is not necessarily a good thing, particularly in cases where the level is already manageable. This raises the issue of mental underload, which can be at least as detrimental to performance as overload. However, although it is widely recognized that mental underload is detrimental to performance, there are very few attempts to explain why this may be the case. It is argued in this paper that, until the need for a human operator is completely eliminated, automation has psychological implications relevant in both theoretical and applied domains. The present paper reviews theories of attention, as well as the literature on mental workload and automation, to synthesize a new explanation for the effects of mental underload on performance. Malleable attentional resources theory proposes that attentional capacity shrinks to accommodate reductions in mental workload, and that this shrinkage is responsible for the underload effect. The theory is discussed with respect to the applied implications for ergonomics research

Population Pharmacokinetics of Intraventricular Vancomycin in Neonatal Ventriculitis, A Preterm Pilot Study

AIM: Intraventricular vancomycin is an effective treatment for neonatal ventriculitis, as the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) vancomycin levels reach adequate concentrations to achieve microbiological cure. There is no robust data on intraventricular vancomycin pharmacokinetics in the preterm population. This pilot population pharmacokinetic modelling study examines the pharmacokinetic behaviour of intraventricular vancomycin in the preterm population of < 28 weeks gestation, to inform the feasibility of future prospective studies. METHODS: The study comprised 8 preterm infants with neonatal ventriculitis (median gestation age 25.3 weeks; range 23.9 - 27.7). Population pharmacokinetics (non-linear mixed effects modelling) were described with one- and two-compartment models to fit plasma concentrations of vancomycin. A CSF compartment was added to the plasma modelling and mass transfer examined. Three covariates (serum creatinine, ventricular index (VI) and CSF protein) were tested on the final model. Area under the curve (AUC) and average CSF concentration (C average) predictions were generated from the final model and compared with time to microbiological cure. RESULTS: A one-compartment model provided the best fit to the data. There was no appreciable transfer between plasma and CSF. None of the covariates provided a significant reduction in the objective function value (OFV). Generally, time to sterilisation with higher CSF AUC (0-24) and C average tends to be shorter, however this should be interpreted with caution as data is erratic. CONCLUSION: This pilot population pharmacokinetic analysis provides important information to warrant changes in the management of intraventricular vancomycin treatment in the preterm population, such as the current use of VI as a dosing parameter. Further study with a larger data pool is necessary to investigate the influence of VI on CSF vancomycin and ascertain dosing strategies

More than a feeling? Toward a theory of customer delight

PurposeResponding to an increasing call for a more comprehensive conceptualization of customer delight, the purpose of this paper is to expand the theory of customer delight and to examine the implications of such an expanded view for service theory and practice.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the results of three qualitative studies. The first study explores customer delight through self-reported consumption experiences in customer-selected contexts, followed by one-on-one in-depth interviews. The second involves focus groups and the third examines self-reported incidents of delightful customer experiences.FindingsThis research finds that customer delight goes beyond extreme satisfaction and joy and surprise to include six properties that—individually or in combination—characterize customer delight. An expanded conceptualization of how customer delight can be defined is proposed in which customer delight is associated with various combinations of six properties – the customer experiencing positive emotions, interacting with others, successful problem-solving, engaging customer’s senses, timing of the events and sense of control that characterizes the customer's encounter.Research limitations/implicationsIt is clear from the findings of this research that there is no single property that is associated with delight. Through the facilitation of multiple properties, managers have the potential to create a multitude of routes to delight. It is recommended that future research (1) identify and explicate these alternative routes for engendering delight using the six properties identified, and (2) develop a general typology based on service context and characteristics, customer segment, etc. that further stimulates scholarship on delight, and offers more industry-specific insights for managers.Practical implicationsInsights from this investigation will encourage managers and service designers to think more broadly and creatively about delight. Doing so will open up new opportunities for achieving customer delight, beyond merely focusing on extreme satisfaction or surprise and joy strategies currently dominating discussions of customer delight.Originality/valueThis paper makes several contributions to the service literature. First, it extends current conceptualizations of customer delight and offers an expanded definition. Next, it demonstrates how this new understanding extends the existing literature on delight. Finally, it proposes an agenda for future delight research and discusses managerial implications, opening up new opportunities for firms to design delightful customer experiences.</jats:sec

REFERQUAL: A pilot study of a new service quality assessment instrument in the GP Exercise Referral scheme setting

Background The development of an instrument accurately assessing service quality in the GP Exercise Referral Scheme (ERS) industry could potentially inform scheme organisers of the factors that affect adherence rates leading to the implementation of strategic interventions aimed at reducing client drop-out. Methods A modified version of the SERVQUAL instrument was designed for use in the ERS setting and subsequently piloted amongst 27 ERS clients. Results Test re-test correlations were calculated via Pearson's 'r' or Spearman's 'rho', depending on whether the variables were Normally Distributed, to show a significant (mean r = 0.957, SD = 0.02, p < 0.05; mean rho = 0.934, SD = 0.03, p < 0.05) relationship between all items within the questionnaire. In addition, satisfactory internal consistency was demonstrated via Cronbach's 'α'. Furthermore, clients responded favourably towards the usability, wording and applicability of the instrument's items. Conclusion REFERQUAL is considered to represent promise as a suitable tool for future evaluation of service quality within the ERS community. Future research should further assess the validity and reliability of this instrument through the use of a confirmatory factor analysis to scrutinise the proposed dimensional structure

Current Concepts and Trends in Human-Automation Interaction

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.The purpose of this panel was to provide a general overview and discussion of some of the most current and controversial concepts and trends in human-automation interaction. The panel was composed of eight researchers and practitioners. The panelists are well-known experts in the area and offered differing views on a variety of different human-automation topics. The range of concepts and trends discussed in this panel include: general taxonomies regarding stages and levels of automation and function allocation, individualized adaptive automation, automation-induced complacency, economic rationality and the use of automation, the potential utility of false alarms, the influence of different types of false alarms on trust and reliance, and a system-wide theory of trust in multiple automated aids

Service research priorities in a rapidly changing context

The context in which service is delivered and experienced has, in many respects, fundamentally changed. For instance, advances in technology, especially information technology, are leading to a proliferation of revolutionary services and changing how customers serve themselves before, during, and after purchase. To understand this changing landscape, the authors engaged in an international and interdisciplinary research effort to identify research priorities that have the potential to advance the service field and benefit customers, organizations, and society. The priority-setting process was informed by roundtable discussions with researchers affiliated with service research centers and networks located around the world and resulted in the following 12 service research priorities: • stimulating service innovation, • facilitating servitization, service infusion, and solutions, • understanding organization and employee issues relevant to successful service, • developing service networks and systems, • leveraging service design, • using big data to advance service, • understanding value creation, • enhancing the service experience, • improving well-being through transformative service, • measuring and optimizing service performance and impact, • understanding service in a global context, and • leveraging technology to advance service. For each priority, the authors identified important specific service topics and related research questions. Then, through an online survey, service researchers assessed the subtopics’ perceived importance and the service field’s extant knowledge about them. Although all the priorities and related topics were deemed important, the results show that topics related to transformative service and measuring and optimizing service performance are particularly important for advancing the service field along with big data, which had the largest gap between importance and current knowledge of the field. The authors present key challenges that should be addressed to move the field forward and conclude with a discussion of the need for additional interdisciplinary research