The influence of point of identification on merchandise consumption

It has long been recognised that consumers can form bonds and identify strongly with the organisations with which they are involved. When the organisation in question is a professional sporting club, identification can be a complex issue. Sports fans can identify with the team as a whole, with individual players, or both. How this different point of identification affects behaviour such as merchandise consumption is the focus of this paper. The survey responses of 161 members of the Kangaroos Football (AFL) Club suggest that members can identify with both team and individual players in tandem. Far from being opposites, team and player identification were found to be distinct constructs, not significantly related to each other. The point of identification was related to the nature of merchandise consumed and the manner in which it was consumed. The results suggest both player and team identification should be encouraged and that merchandise should cater for both in an inclusive way.<br /

A GIS-based estimation of steady-state non-point source bacteria pollution in the Lower Rio Grande below Falcón Reservoir

textThis report estimates the steady-state, non-point source bacteria pollution along the international river system of the Lower Rio Grande / Río Bravo between Falcón Reservoir and the Gulf of Mexico. The results from this report may be used by environmental agencies in the United States and México in order to develop a steady-state water quality model of the bacterial load in this river system. This report creates a GIS-based estimation of the steady-state, non-point source pollution from sources such as failing septic tanks, untreated sewage, grazing animals, and wildlife in the watershed. This report also provides recommendations for environmental agencies when developing the water quality model. The results and methodology developed for this report may be used as part of the Lower Rio Grande / Río Bravo Watershed Initiative, a binational pilot project to develop a plan to restore and protect the quality of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental EngineeringPublic Affair

Self-service technologies and voice intentions : an empirical investigation

Consumer dissatisfaction with self-service technologies (SSTs) has become prevalent. Although consumers&rsquo; voice has been studied in the interpersonal services context, in the context of SSTs it has been subject to very little conceptual or empirical scrutiny. To fill this void, this study tests empirically a model of the antecedents of consumers&rsquo; voice intentions in the context of unsatisfactory SST encounters. The findings suggest the need to integrate both &ldquo;new&rdquo; and &ldquo;conventional&rdquo; complaint behaviour management in the SST setting.<br /

The marketing audit and business performance: an empirical study of large Australian companies

The conceptual framework of the marketing audit has been well developed by different contributors since the late 1950s. At the present time, the popular marketing textbooks and the published academic and general literature deal primarily with the theoretical and practical aspects of the marketing audit without offering any rigorous empirical justification of the practice. The teaching of the marketing audit appears to be based on the logical expectation of its usefulness, isolated case studies, and anecdotal evidence. There is little indication of how the marketing audit is actually being used, the procedure in conducting it, and how the industry perceives and evaluates its benefits. This paper attempts to explore and profile the current practice of the marketing audit in larger Australian firms. The results of this industry-based survey of 216 large Australian businesses indicated that about 48 per cent of the respondents have used the marketing audit, with 75 per cent using the self-audit method in conducting it. The respondents&rsquo; perception was that the implementation of the recommendations of the marketing audit had contributed mostly between one per cent and 10 per cent to their organisational performance.<br /

Market orientation and organisational performance: the influence of moderators

The concept of market orientation has received a great deal of attention from marketing scholars, indicating its conceptual and practical importance. The concept has been investigated from many perspectives and examined in many ways. The current general understanding is that market orientation, in most cases, is positively related to some measures of organisational performance and that different internal and external situations moderate this relationship. This paper aims to (1) introduce a measure of market orientation effectiveness, which represents a synthesis of the influence of different internal and external moderators on market orientation, and (2) measure the association of market orientation effectiveness with (a) a marketing performance outcome and (b) the overall organisational financial performance. The results from a survey of 216 large Australian businesses indicated that some variables (an organisation&rsquo;s strategy of cost leadership, market strength, implementation effectiveness, and market volatility) have positive contributions at different degrees to market orientation effectiveness, while anticipated competitive reaction contributes negatively. Results also indicated that in the sample studied, both market orientation and market orientation effectiveness were more strongly associated with a measure of marketing performance, than with the overall financial performance, which is a function of both marketing and non-marketing initiatives.<br /

The dimensions of self-service technologies and the relation to \u27self\u27

This paper assesses the &ldquo;behavioural&rdquo; notion of &ldquo;self&rdquo; across the various dimensions of self-service technologies (SSTs). In the context of SSTs, it is acknowledged that the customer role is extended to include that of &ldquo;service employee&rdquo;. Therefore, the authors propose the need to explore this new role, from the customer&rsquo;s perspective, across a diverse range of SSTs. This proposition is supported in that prior research has looked generally across a broad range of SSTs, as opposed to drawing comparisons across the different types of SSTs. In bringing together two classification schemes of SSTs, which does not appear to have been done previously, the authors draw on past research and industry examples to explore the customer experience across different categories of SSTs. It is proposed that the dimensions of SSTs, including level of customer participation as influenced by the purpose of the SST, location of the SST, and type of technology employed, will uniquely influence the notion of &ldquo;self&rdquo;, and thus the customer&rsquo;s SST experience. These propositions have implications for both future research and practice. Future research is needed to study empirically the characteristics of specific SSTs, and compare the many different types of SSTs, and how their unique characteristics influence the customer&rsquo;s production/consumption experience. When marketers gain a better understanding of the dimensions of individual SSTs, and their influence on the customer, more effective management and use of SSTs will result.<br /

Correlates of student satisfaction with study modes

Research into the outcomes for students of different study modes has generally concluded that there is &lsquo;no significant difference&rsquo; between outcomes for students studying face-to-face and for those studying by a variety of distance or flexible means. As the shift towards CIT-based and independent learning for oncampus students accelerates, it is important to establish how student outcomes are affected. This paper reports on a survey of the experiences and satisfaction of oncampus students with different learning environments and compares the satisfaction of those students who have experienced both on- and off-campus study. These comparisons were made based on students&rsquo; employment status and their reasons for studying off-campus. The findings revealed that students were significantly less satisfied with their off-campus than on-campus experience regardless of their work status. Further, the results indicate an association between students&rsquo; satisfaction with off-campus study and their reasons for studying off-campus. Given the evidence provided in this paper in support of face-to-face learning environments for &lsquo;conventional&rsquo; on-campus students, both academics and administrators have an interest in ensuring that it remains central to the higher education experience of current and future students.<br /

The need to vent and dissatisfactory self-service technology encounters

Reports of customer dissatisfaction with self-service technologies (SSTs) are becoming increasingly common. The SST context is characterised by customer participation in service production and delivery, independently of service personnel. With no opportunity for humanto- human interaction, feelings of customer irritation and frustration can have a tendency to build-up in dissatisfactory SST encounters. If SSTs do not perform as promised, customers can become angry and frustrated, and do not have the security or reassurance of human service personnel. With this in mind, it is argued that customers&rsquo; &ldquo;need to vent&rdquo; will be an important predictor of customers&rsquo; complaint behaviours (CCBs), i.e., voice, negative word of mouth, negative &ldquo;word of mouse&rdquo;, third party action, false loyalty and exit, in dissatisfactory SST encounters. The &ldquo;need to vent&rdquo; is defined as the need, when one has a problem, to seek relief by expressing one&rsquo;s problem / &ldquo;getting it off one&rsquo;s chest&rdquo;. This construct has been subject to little conceptual or empirical scrutiny, and to the researchers&rsquo; knowledge, has not been previously operationalised or measured. This paper begins to address this gap by presenting a conceptual model and hypotheses depicting the relationships between the need to vent and CCBs in the context of SSTs.<br /

Guanxi in a sub-national cross-cultural setting

This paper explores whether Chinese relationship building, Guanxi, is effective in crosscultural sub-national relationships. Derived from research into Sino-Australian Sister City Type Relationships and using material gathered through interviews in China and Australia, a modified Institutional Guanxi conceptual model has been developed. Some propositions are developed to link the components of the Guanxi conceptual model. Different methodologies are explored to determine the most effective way to test the hypotheses in a cross-cultural environment, and future research is outlined.<br /

Relationship orientation : towards an antecedent model of trust in marketing relationships

With the advent and the increasing use of the concept of Relationship Marketing as a basis for marketing strategy, it has become evident that a lack of empirical knowledge exists as to the operational basis of the concept. Information regarding the conceptual basis of Relationship Marketing and a possible new orientation toward the concept may be of substantial value to both practitioners and scholars of relationship marketing. This paper considers the emergence of a Relationship Orientation within the marketing literature and proposes an antecedent model of Trust as a basis. The role of Ethics as a possible antecedent to Trust is emphasised and identified as a gap within the relationship marketing literature. Based on previous exploratory work and a review of the literature of relationship marketing, exchange theory, general marketing theory, marketing ethics and sales management, four key antecedent dimensions of Trust are identified: Ethics, Bonding, Empathy and Reciprocity. Additional possible antecedents are suggested. Future empirical research is proposed in order to validate the model.<br /