At Face Value: Visual Antecedents of Impression Formation in Servicescapes

Consumers may base employee impressions on physical appearance\ud and displayed personal objects. In a scenario experiment,\ud using photos of a physician and a 360-degree panorama of his\ud consultation room, we examined the effects of appearance and\ud tangibles on impression formation. Study 1 shows that observers\ud employ various strategies of combining information from different\ud sources when forming an impression of the employee’s friendliness\ud and competence. Whereas previous research has shown that impression\ud formation based on personal appearances proceeds in an\ud automatic fashion, the findings of study 2 indicate that impression\ud formation grounded in the perception of tangibles requires more\ud elaborate processin

Service validity and service reliability of search, experience and credence services: A scenario study

The purpose of this research is to add to our understanding of the antecedents of customer satisfaction by examining the effects of service reliability (Is the service “correctly” produced?) and service validity (Is the “correct” service produced?) of search, experience and credence services.\ud Design/methodology/approach – Service validity and service reliability were manipulated in scenarios describing service encounters with different types of services. Customer satisfaction was measured using questionnaires.\ud Findings – Service validity and service reliability independently affect customer satisfaction with search services. For experience services, service validity and service reliability are necessary conditions for customer satisfaction. For credence services, no effects of service validity were found but the effects of service reliability on customers' satisfaction were profound.\ud Research limitations/implications – Scenarios provided a useful method to investigate customer evaluation of different types of service situations. A limitation of this method was that the participants were not observed in a real service situation but had to give their opinion on hypothetical scenarios.\ud Practical implications – For search and credence services, it is possible to compensate low service validity by providing a highly reliable service. However, managers of experience services should be aware that little can be gained when either service validity or service reliability is faulty.\ud Originality/value – The present study provides empirical data on the effects of service reliability and the thus far neglected effects of service validity and integrates these (new) concepts in the model of information verification

Rhythmic Methods of Teaching Motor Skills

It was the purpose of this study reported herein to evaluate three different methods of teaching motor skills in children: (1) the Laissez-Faire or minimum instruction method; (2) the addition of a rhythmic nursery song to minimum instruction; and (3) directive speech added in the form of song to concentrate attention and synchronize the action with words describing that action

Differences in lower-body stiffness between levels of netball competition

© 2015 National Strength and Conditioning Association. There are many notable differences in physical and skill attributes between competition levels, especially in team sports. Stiffness is an important mechanical factor to measure when considering athletic performance and injury incidence. Active vertical stiffness (K vert) during hopping and passive stiffness during lying and standing were measured during the preseason period for 46 female netballers (24.0 ± 3.7 years, 72.2 ± 7.6 kg, 175.2 ± 6.7 cm). Participants were classified as elite, sub-elite, representative or recreational based on their current level of competition. A 1-way analysis of variance revealed that elite players possessed significantly higher K vert than recreational players (p 0.018). Large effect sizes (ES) suggested that elite players also possessed higher K vert than sub-elite (d 1.11) and representative (d 1.11) players. A number of large and moderate ES were also present when comparing the passive stiffness of elite players to their lower-ranked counterparts. The results of this study suggest that elite players possess higher levels of active stiffness when compared with their lower-ranked counterparts. The differences in stiffness levels may contribute to a player's ability to physically perform at an elite level and also provide one explanation into elevated rates of injury at higher levels of competition

Spoort de OV-studentenkaart met de wensen in de markt?

Hoeveel en welke studenten zijn voorstander respectievelijk tegenstander van de OV-studentenkaart en waarom? Dit waren enkele van de vragen die, voorafgaand aan de invoering van de verplichte OV-kaart (januari 1991), zijn onderzocht in voorjaar 1989 bij een steekproef van 931 studerenden aan het MBO, HBO en WO. Als theoretisch kader bij de analyse van deze vragen is gebruik gemaakt van het onderscheid dat Abell maakt in klantengroepen, klantenfuncties en alternatieve techno1ogieën en van het Fishbein en Ajzen attitudemodel. Het bleek destijds dat de helft van de studerenden de kaart een onaantrekkelijk nieuw produkt vond. Deze tegenstanders haddeneen reis- en vervoersgedrag waardoor zij zeer weinig openbaar vervoerskosten maakten. Dit kwam ofwel omdat men weinig reisde (men woont dicht bij ouders en studieplek), ofwel omdat men wel veel reisde maar dit met eigen vervoer deed (autobezitters en meerijders, motor- of bromfiets). Beide groepen zouden er door de invoering van de kaart, bij ongewijzigd reis- en vervoersgedrag, financieel op achteruit gaan vanwege de korting op de basisbeurs. Compensatie van de financië1e achteruitgang door bet substitueren van eigen vervoer door openbaarvervoer werd problematisch geacht omdat men de bereikbaarheid van de reisdoelen met openbaar vervoer als slecht beoordeelde. Vergeleken met de tegenstanders reisden de voorstanders reeds veel met openbaar vervoer zodat zij financieel (vrijwel) quitte zouden spelen of er op vooruit zouden gaan. Uit de intenties tot verandering in reisgedrag bleek dat er vooral een toename van het reisgedrag met het openbaar vervoer te verwachten was in de daluren (bezoeken aan familie, vrienden, recreatiedoelene.d.) en niet in de spits. Als belangrijkste conclusie van de resultaten kan genoemd worden dat wanneer een niet-verplichte OV-kaart geïntroduceerd zou zijn tegen een hogere prijs dan de huidige korting op de basisbeurs, dit beter zou hebben gespoord met de wensen in de markt dan de huidige verplichte OV-kaart

Vertical stiffness asymmetries during drop jumping are related to ankle stiffness asymmetries

Asymmetry in vertical stiffness has been associated with increased injury incidence and impaired performance. The determinants of vertical stiffness asymmetry have not been previously investigated. Eighteen healthy males performed three unilateral drop jumps during which vertical stiffness and joint stiffness of the ankle and knee were calculated. Reactive strength index was also determined during the jumps using the ratio of flight time to ground contact time. ‘Moderate’ differences in vertical stiffness (t17 = 5.49; P < 0.001), ‘small’ differences in centre of mass displacement (t17 = -2.19; P = 0.043) and ‘trivial’ differences in ankle stiffness (t17 = 2.68; P = 0.016) were observed between stiff and compliant limbs. A model including ankle stiffness and reactive strength index symmetry angles explained 79% of the variance in vertical stiffness asymmetry (R2 = 0.79; P < 0.001). None of the symmetry angles were correlated to jump height or reactive strength index. Results suggest that asymmetries in ankle stiffness may play an important role in modulating vertical stiffness asymmetry in recreationally trained males