How to Organize Course Evaluation Components to Optimize Learning Outcome: An Application of Pedagogical Theories

A college- or university-level course should have several components to optimize learning outcome. Evaluation components are organized to cater the course-specific need of students. A theory-based course that is taught in traditional classroom environment should have different components in comparison to a course that is practical-based. To optimize the learning outcome of a theory-based course, components should be comprised of a specific set of activities including a set of quizzes, and exams focusing on individual performance; final projects, and case studies focusing on students\u27 ability to work in group; and course-relevant workshop assessing students\u27 analytical skills. The objective of this paper is to explain how these components can help assessing and optimizing learning outcome of theory-based courses of the post-secondary level

Assessing the Challenges and Opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Vietnamese Apparel Retail Market

Since the Vietnamese government implemented an economic renovation policy in 1986, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have tremendously contributed to a rapid growth in the country\u27s economy. Although SMEs play an important role in Vietnam\u27s apparel retail market, relatively little is known about Vietnam\u27s apparel retailing market environment and domestic Vietnamese apparel retailers\u27 dynamic business performance in the marketplace. Therefore, the present study aimed to extend an understanding of the competitive advantages of domestic Vietnamese small-sized apparel retail firms and examine their growth potential in Vietnam\u27s apparel retail marketplace

Alleviating Anxiety through Shopping: Roles of a Sense of Control and an Approach/Avoidance Motivation

Retail therapy is a strategic and conscious attempt to repair negative mood through shopping and purchasing. Despite its prevalence, there are very few empirical studies on this topic and there is no strong conceptual model to explain the underlying psychological and behavioral processes of therapeutic shopping behavior. Furthermore, few studies have examined individual differences in shopping approaches and outcomes in this context. This study proposes theoretical links among anxiety, a therapeutic shopping motive, shopping values, and a sense of control and to predict a moderating role of an approach/ avoidance motivation in the therapeutic shopping process. A proposed model can be empirically tested in a field setting to validate the theoretical linkages and provide practical implications for retailers and marketers to develop more fine-tuned strategies to help different types of shoppers achieve their therapeutic shopping goals

Assessing the challenges and opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Vietnamese apparel retail market

Since the Vietnamese government implemented an economic renovation policy in 1986, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have tremendously contributed to a rapid growth in the country\u27s economy (Tran, Le, & Nguyen, 2008). Although SMEs play an important role in Vietnam\u27s apparel retail market, relatively little is known about Vietnam\u27s apparel retailing market environment and domestic Vietnamese apparel retailers\u27 dynamic business performance in the marketplace. Therefore, the present study aimed to extend an understanding of the competitive advantages of domestic Vietnamese small-sized apparel retail firms and examine their growth potential in Vietnam\u27s apparel retail marketplace. Rostow\u27s Stage of Growth Model (1960) and the VRIO framework (Barney, 1995) were used to frame the qualitative-dominant mixed methods approach. For this study, face-to-face interviews and a paper-based survey were conducted among a target sample including domestic Vietnamese small-sized apparel retail store owners who independently-owned and operated an apparel retailing store in Hochiminh City of Vietnam. To obtain candid responses from participants, closed-ended and open-ended responses in semi-structured questionnaire were used. The sample (n=13) for the present study was obtained using a snowball sampling technique. Open coding, constant comparison, and axial coding processes were used to analyze the data (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). For the qualitative phase, interpretive analyses revealed overarching themes, including (1) resources generated for domestic Vietnamese small business owners in the apparel retail market, (2) limited access to financial resources, (3) lack of reliable human resources, (4) need for further development of transportation infrastructure, (5) use of retail technology, (6) economic conditions\u27 influence on apparel consumption, and (7) facing other difficulties in retail operations. For the quantitative phase, descriptive statistics were calculated from the paper-based survey results to support evidence from the in-depth interviews, including the calculation of means, standard deviations, and frequencies of item scores. Based on the VRIO framework (Barney, 1995), the findings suggest that a majority of the domestic Vietnamese small-sized apparel retail stores are weak and lack resource management. The results confirmed that a number of participants in this study have valuable resources in retail operations. However, the findings also re-affirmed that the firms are lacking in rarity, imitability, and organization structure toward valuable resources to sustain a competitive advantage in Vietnam\u27s apparel retail market. Therefore, this study suggests that by understanding these resource management practices for domestic Vietnamese apparel retail business owners, other small business entrepreneurs in Vietnam can build appropriate resource management strategies for their stores to sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In addition, a majority of the domestic Vietnamese small-sized apparel retail stores confront several business constraints in the marketplace. Descriptive statistic results illustrated that a majority of participants are facing difficulties in business operations because of several key determinants identified in this study, including capital resources, human resources, transportation infrastructure, and technology infrastructure. Therefore, this study provides guidelines to policy makers and organizations in Vietnam who may be responsible for specific assistance programs to domestic Vietnamese small businesses in transition markets. This study is a beginning point for domestic small-sized apparel retail entrepreneurs\u27 research in Vietnam. By identifying information about domestic Vietnamese small business entrepreneurial activities in the apparel retail market, this study encourages other researchers to conduct future studies by utilizing the findings from this study. This study generated a series of testable propositions based on analyses of domestic Vietnamese small firms\u27 entrepreneurial activities and Vietnam\u27s apparel retail market conditions. Therefore, future research should advance the propositions and test the framework by investigating new relationships among the components necessary to understanding market growth and sustainability in Vietnam\u27s retail market

Investigating Customer Loyalty to Apparel and Beauty Subscription Box Retailers

Introduction: At present, there are many subscription retail boxes (e.g., Birchbox, Epsy) available for everything from apparel, to beauty products, to groceries. Subscription box retailers charge customers a subscription fee to receive box of products on a regular basis, per their preferences (Hayes, 2014). Although, the exact market size of subscription box businesses is difficult to measure, there were approximately 2,000 subscription box retailers in the marketplace that generated 5 billion revenue in 2014 in the U.S. market (Pike, 2016). More importantly, gigantic retailers, such as Amazon, Target, Sephora, and Walmart, have started to implement subscription box models for some product categories very recently. Although subscription box has rapidly emerged as one of the fastest growing retail market segments, there is hardly any academic research that investigates this growing market to explain customer loyalty and business growth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore key retail attributes that may influence customer loyalty to subscription box retailers. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development: Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) was used as a framework for examining the relationships among variables, such as product-related attributes (Stimuli), attitude toward subscription box retailers (Organism), Word of Mouth (WOM), re-purchase intention, and loyalty (Response). Several studies (e.g., Dhar, Hoch, & Kumar, 2001) have suggested that consumers rely on the product-related attributes, such as price, quality, assortment, product uniqueness, and surprise element, while they make a purchase decision. Attitude plays a significant role in consumption studies and is a significant predictor of purchase intentions (e.g., Marcketti & Shelley, 2009). Furthermore, previous studies measured consumers\u27 response behaviors in terms of WOM and retail patronage intentions (Carpenter, 2008). Based on extant literature in consumer behavior area, this study proposed following hypotheses: H1: Product-related attributes such as (a) price, (b) quality, (c) assortment, (d) uniqueness, and (e) surprise will positively influence customers\u27 attitude toward subscription box retailers. H2: Customers\u27 attitude toward subscription box retailers will positively influence (a) WOM, and (b) re-purchase intention. H3: (a) WOM and (b) re-purchase intention will positively influence customer loyalty toward subscription box retailers. Methods and Data Analysis: Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) panel was used for collecting the data through an online survey. The survey included 7-point Likert type scales with items adapted from existing scales to measure each research variable. Demographic questions were also included. SPSS was used to run descriptive statistics and reliability analysis and MPlus was used to run confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: A total of 357 useable responses were collected representing U.S. national sample, which consisted of male (46%) and female (54%) with an average age of 32. All participants were currently a member of some subscription box retailer. Over half of respondents (53%) reported that they pay 10-$24.99 subscription fee to a retailer. All the scales used for measuring the research variables demonstrated internal consistency with Cronbach\u27s α of .70 or greater. CFA demonstrated that measurement model had an acceptable model fit. Structural model fit indices suggested that the hypothesized structural relationships fit the data well (χ2= 1153.24, df = 356, CFI = .91, TLI =. 90, RMSEA = .08, SRMR = .06). Findings suggested that product quality (β = .68, p \u3c .001) and product uniqueness (β = .16, p \u3c .001) were significant predictors of customers\u27 attitude toward subscription box retailers. Whereas, price (β = .12, p = .14), assortment (β = .07, p = .16), and product surprise (β= -.02, p = .59) were not significant determinants of attitude toward subscription box retailers. Furthermore, customer attitude toward subscription box retailers positively influenced WOM (β = .79, p \u3c .001) and repurchase intention (β= .86, p \u3c .001). Finally, results showed that the positive WOM (β = .33, p \u3c .001) and repurchase intention (β = .71, p \u3c .001) significantly influenced customer loyalty for subscription box retailers. In total, the hypothesized model explained 94% of variance in customer loyalty. Secondary analysis revealed that customers\u27 need for uniqueness was a significant moderator of the relationship between product quality and attitude as well as product uniqueness and attitude toward the subscription box retailers. Conclusion and Implications: This is one of the earliest studies that explored the concept of customer loyalty towards subscription-based services. The present study has some practical implications as well as limitations. For instance, need for uniqueness enhances customer loyalty [via positive attitude moderation] towards subscription-based services, which is consistent with the new perspective put forth by He, Li, and Harris (2012). Per He et al. (2012) social perspective (e.g., self-expression, self-enhancement) should also be considered in a brand loyalty framework. Our findings are consistent with He et al.\u27s (2012) proposition. On the other hand, some limitations include: sample size, survey methodology, and geographical limitations among others. Future studies should also explore other factors such as gender, varied research methods, and cross-cultural studies to name a few

Truck-based mobile wireless sensor networks for the experimental observation of vehicle–bridge interaction

Heavy vehicles driving over a bridge create a complex dynamic phenomenon known as vehicle–bridge interaction. In recent years, interest in vehicle–bridge interaction has grown because a deeper understanding of the phenomena can lead to improvements in bridge design methods while enhancing the accuracy of structural health monitoring techniques. The mobility of wireless sensors can be leveraged to directly monitor the dynamic coupling between the moving vehicle and the bridge. In this study, a mobile wireless sensor network is proposed for installation on a heavy truck to capture the vertical acceleration, horizontal acceleration and gyroscopic pitching of the truck as it crosses a bridge. The vehicle-based wireless monitoring system is designed to interact with a static, permanent wireless monitoring system installed on the bridge. Specifically, the mobile wireless sensors time-synchronize with the bridge's wireless sensors before transferring the vehicle response data. Vertical acceleration and gyroscopic pitching measurements of the vehicle are combined with bridge accelerations to create a time-synchronized vehicle–bridge response dataset. In addition to observing the vehicle vibrations, Kalman filtering is adopted to accurately track the vehicle position using the measured horizontal acceleration of the vehicle and positioning information derived from piezoelectric strip sensors installed on the bridge deck as part of the bridge monitoring system. Using the Geumdang Bridge (Korea), extensive field testing of the proposed vehicle–bridge wireless monitoring system is conducted. Experimental results verify the reliability of the wireless system and the accuracy of the vehicle positioning algorithm.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90810/1/0964-1726_20_6_065009.pd