Sensory stimuli and e‐tailers

• This paper examines the use of sensory stimuli in the creation of store atmosphere in the online context. Parsons ( 2002 ) shows that online shoppers are motivated by many of the same non‐functional aspects of shopping as physical store shoppers (eg Tauber, 1972 ; Sheth, 1983 ), including sensory stimulation from aural and visual stimuli. This study investigates what customers desire from a virtual store atmosphere, and conducts an audit of the 15 top e‐tailers as ranked by Nielsen/NetRatings ( 2001 ) using the extant set of stimuli/responses established from the physical store literature. Findings suggest a strong desire from customers for sensory stimuli, with only partial matching by e‐tailers, and a surprising lack of differentiation among competitors. Examination of purchase responses to actual stimuli suggests a need for e‐tailers to match consumers' desires.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Science–Practice Gap in e‐Recruitment

We conducted a content analysis of online job application forms used by companies listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange (i.e., Bolsa de Madrid). We collected data from 76 companies in 2005 and then again for 66 of these companies in 2009. We coded the type of information required on the application forms based on 24 categories related to potential illegal discrimination and personnel selection social context issues (i.e., fairness, intrusiveness, and privacy). Results indicated that the relative frequency of the 24 information categories has remained stable from 2005 to 2009. Moreover, averaging 2005 and 2009 results, a large percentage of companies require information that can be used for illegal discrimination and can be perceived as unfair, intrusive, and invasive of applicants' privacy such as age or date of birth (87%), nationality (61%), marital status (48%), place of birth (57%), passport number (47%), a photograph (23%), and number of children (11%). Our results document a science–practice gap in e‐recruitment because scholarly research suggests that requesting these types of information leads to negative applicant reactions ranging from negative perceptions and emotions to actually initiating legal action against the recruiting firm. Our results also point to e‐recruitment as an area that could be targeted as a good collaboration topic between scientists and practitioners because the resulting research has the potential to make important contributions toward bridging the science–practice gap.     

Atlantis: a time‐value model in e‐commerce

This paper presents a model for resolving two main issues of time in e‐commerce. The first issue is the time value of e‐commerce that represents the value of each moment of the commerce time from the perspective of buyers and sellers. Buyers and sellers can use this model to calculate the time value at each moment of time and accordingly decide whether it is profitable to buy or sell at that moment. The second issue is to allow buyers or sellers to increase their savings or decrease their costs by changing each of the factors governing the time value model of the concerned e‐commerce. We present relevant model specifically for Amazon e‐commerce to present a proof of concept of our proposed models.     

Goal‐Proximity Decision‐Making

Reinforcement learning (RL) models of decision‐making cannot account for human decisions in the absence of prior reward or punishment. We propose a mechanism for choosing among available options based on goal‐option association strengths, where association strengths between objects represent previously experienced object proximity. The proposed mechanism, Goal‐Proximity Decision‐making (GPD), is implemented within the ACT‐R cognitive framework. GPD is found to be more efficient than RL in three maze‐navigation simulations. GPD advantages over RL seem to grow as task difficulty is increased. An experiment is presented where participants are asked to make choices in the absence of prior reward. GPD captures human performance in this experiment better than RL.     

Volunteer work as a valuable leisure‐time activity: A day‐level study on volunteer work,non‐work experiences,and well‐being at work

In this 2‐week diary study, with 105 employees providing data on a total of 476 days, we examined relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities during leisure time, psychological non‐work experiences in the evening (i.e. recovery experiences of psychological detachment from work and mastery as well as need satisfaction), and work outcomes during the following working day (i.e. positive and negative affect, and active listening). Results confirmed the hypothesized positive relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities and psychological detachment from work, mastery experiences, and need satisfaction in the evening. Psychological detachment from work in the evening was positively related to active listening during the following working day. Need satisfaction in the evening was negatively related to negative affect and positively related to active listening during the following working day. The amount of time spent on volunteer work activities was negatively related to negative affect during the following working day. This relationship was mediated by need satisfaction in the evening.     

Technology‐based contingency management and e‐cigarettes during the initial weeks of a smoking quit attempt

Contingency management (CM) interventions are among the most effective behavioral interventions for smoking. This study assessed the effects of CM and electronic cigarettes (ECs) on smoking reductions and abstinence for durations of 30‐36 days. Twelve participants were exposed to Baseline, EC alone, and EC + CM conditions. An internet‐based platform was used to monitor smoking via breath carbon monoxide (CO) and deliver CM for smoking abstinence (CO ≤4 ppm). A Bluetooth‐enabled EC monitored daily EC puffs. Abstinence rates were equivalent between EC (34.4%) and EC + CM (30.4%) conditions. Both conditions promoted smoking reductions. We observed an inverse correlation between smoking and EC puffs (r = ‐.62, p < .05). Results suggest the use of electronic cigarettes can promote smoking reductions and abstinence, and CM did not improve these outcomes. Larger magnitude consequences or tailoring EC characteristics (e.g., flavor) may have improved outcomes. Technology‐based methods to collect intensive, longitudinal measures of smoking and electronic cigarette use may be useful to characterize their environmental determinants.     

High School Students' Career‐Related Decision‐Making Difficulties

The present study examined the construct of career‐related decision‐making difficulties among 1,843 Israeli adolescents: choosing a high school (9th grade), choosing high school elective courses (10th grade), and deciding on a military job preference (11th grade). Three versions of the Career Decision‐Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) were constructed to match the 3 decision situations. The structures of the 10 difficulty categories of the revised CDDQ were found similar to that proposed by I. Gati, M. Krausz, and S. H. Osipow (1996). Boys reported higher difficulties than girls in external conflicts and dysfunctional beliefs. Research and counseling implications are discussed.     

Live training versus e‐learning to teach implementation of listener response programs

Discrete‐trial teaching is an effective teaching procedure that must be implemented with high integrity to produce optimal learning. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) has proven effective for staff training; however, BST is time and labor intensive. Computer‐based instruction (CBI) programs may provide a more efficient and cost‐effective alternative to live training if the CBI program is as effective as BST in producing accurate implementation. The current study compared CBI to BST to train novice undergraduate students to conduct discrete‐trial teaching. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions and assessed prior to and after the completion of training. Results indicated that although both BST and CBI were effective at training participants to implement discrete‐trial teaching, BST was slightly but significantly more effective whereas CBI quickly created a return on the investment of product development.     

Visuo‐spatial working memory in navigation

Two experiments employed dual task techniques to explore the role of working memory in route learning and subsequent route retrieval. Experiment 1 involved contrasting performance of two groups of volunteers respectively learning a route from a series of map segments or a series of visually presented nonsense words. Both groups performed learning and recognition under articulatory suppression or concurrent spatial tapping. Both concurrent tasks had an overall disruptive effect on each learning task. However, spatial tapping disrupted route recognition rather more than did articulatory suppression, while the nonsense word recognition was impaired more by articulatory suppression than by concurrent spatial tapping. Experiment 2 again used dual task methodology, but explored route learning by asking volunteers to follow the experimenter through the winding streets of a medieval European town centre. Retrieval involved following the same route while the experimenter followed and noted errors in navigation. Overall the results partially replicated those of Experiment 1 in that both concurrent tasks interfered with route learning. However, volunteers with high spatial ability appeared more affected by the concurrent spatial tapping task, whereas low spatial subjects appeared more affected by the concurrent articulatory suppression task. Results are interpreted to suggest that different aspects of working memory are involved in learning a route from a map with a greater emphasis on visuo‐spatial resources, but in tasks set in real environments where many cues of a varied nature are available, only high spatial ability subjects appear to rely heavily upon the visuospatial component of working memory. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The initial development of receptivity to working abroad: Self‐initiated international work opportunities in young graduate employees

This study sought to understand how receptivity to working abroad initially develops. Australian graduating business students were surveyed prior to entry to full‐time work and 2 years later after entry, providing a sample of 213 full‐time employees (average age 23 years). Taking a social cognitive career theory approach, beyond individual and organizational control variables, when new young male or female employees had high outcome expectancies (personal agency), had little family influence and no partner (few barriers), and worked in organizations with an international focus (opportunities), their receptivity to international careers increased compared with when they were students. Appraisals of self‐capabilities (personal agency) appeared relevant dependent on destination. When employees preferred country ease for work, and when as students they had low self‐efficacy for international work, their willingness to relocate to work in developing, but not developed, countries was reduced. Suggesting some factors may not be as relevant for later, as for initial, development of receptivity, outcome expectancies and organizational international focus were not related to increased receptivity in 104 older graduate employees (average age 36 years). The influence of home barriers, organizational focus and self‐capabilities on the development of receptivity to international careers and to working in developing countries was discussed, taking into account age, gender and marital status.     

Graph‐Framing Effects in Decision Making

This study manipulated the graphical representation of options by framing the physical characters in figures and found that preferences could be affected even when the words and numbers of the problem were constant. Based on attribute substitution theory and an equate‐to‐differentiate approach, we proposed a two‐process model of graph‐framing effects. In the first mental process, the graph‐editing process, the physical features (e.g., distance, size) represented in the graph are visually edited, and the perceived numerical difference between the options is judged based on its physical features. The second mental process, the preferential choice process, occurs by an equate‐to‐differentiate approach in which people seek to equate the difference between options on the dimension on which the difference is smaller, thus leaving the greater other‐dimensional difference to be the determinant of the final choice. Four experiments were tested for graph‐framing effects. Experiment 1 found a graph‐framing effect in coordinate graphs resting on the (de)compression of the scales employed in the figures. Experiment 2 revealed additional graph‐framing effects in other question scenarios and showed that preference changes were mediated by perceived numerical distances. Experiment 3 further confirmed the presence of graph‐framing effects in sector graphs similar to those found in coordinate ones. Experiment 4 suggested that such graph‐framing effects could be eliminated when logical processing (e.g., introducing a mathematical operation before a choice task) was encouraged. This paper discusses related research and a possible substrate basis for graph‐framing effects. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

For the Win: Risk‐Sensitive Decision‐Making in Teams

Risk‐sensitivity theory predicts that decision‐makers should prefer high‐risk options in high need situations when low‐risk options will not meet these needs. Recent attempts to adopt risk‐sensitivity as a framework for understanding human decision‐making have been promising. However, this research has focused on individual‐level decision‐making, has not examined behavior in naturalistic settings, and has not examined the influence of multiple levels of need on decision‐making under risk. We examined group‐level risk‐sensitive decision‐making in two American football leagues: the National Football League (NFL) and the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Play decisions from the 2012 NFL (Study 1; N = 33 944), 2013 NFL (Study 2; N = 34 087), and 2012 NCAA (Study 3; N = 15 250) regular seasons were analyzed. Results demonstrate that teams made risk‐sensitive decisions based on two distinct needs: attaining first downs (a key proximate goal in football) and acquiring points above parity. Evidence for risk‐sensitive decisions was particularly strong when motivational needs were most salient. These findings are the first empirical demonstration of team risk‐sensitivity in a naturalistic organizational setting. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age‐related differences in work motivation

This paper examines age‐related differences in work motivation in two samples of 9,388 and 2,512 individuals who completed a comprehensive motivation questionnaire for selection or development purposes. In the first sample, age differences were examined by controlling for gender and investigating whether relationships between age and motivation were non‐linear. Statistically significant relationships between motivation and age were found for most motivation scales, explaining up to 12% of the variance in specific scales. The second sample was used to confirm these results and to determine whether differences on these motivation scales could be explained by additional demographic variables, which were not available in the first sample. When controlling for demographic variables, such as gender, managerial experience, and university education, the pattern of results was similar in the second data set although effects were smaller. Results generally support propositions from the literature, which suggest a shift in people's motives rather than a general decline in motivation with age: older employees were less motivated by extrinsically but more by intrinsically rewarding job features.     

Online shopping experience in an emerging e‐retailing market: Towards a conceptual model

We develop a comprehensive and integrated framework of online shopping experience (hereafter OSE) from an emerging market perspective. Using a netnographic research method, we content analysed 284 experiential reviews of 2 leading Nigerian e‐retailers. Augmented by the theory of customer engagement, we identify 8 dimensions of OSE that activate shoppers' affective and cognitive states, which consequently lead to 4 behavioural outcomes, namely, internal responses to service experience, external responses to service experience, repurchase intentions, and word of mouth intentions. The proposed dynamic and comprehensive framework reflects all phases of the consumer decision‐making process and demonstrates that OSE has both perceptual and behavioural components. We make 3 important contributions. First, the paper provides a comprehensive and dynamic model of customer experience that encompasses all the stages in the customer decision‐making process by drawing on a new theoretical perspective to demonstrate how the unique attributes of OSE contribute to extant customer experience research. Second, we advance experiential consumption theory by incorporating attributes of OSE evolved through a unique qualitative research method into existing frameworks of customer experience. Third, we compare and contrast findings from an emerging market with research from more mature markets, when they were undergoing similar development patterns. From a managerial perspective, we illustrate how online retailers operating in emerging markets can draw from the experiences of mature markets and understand the key differences between markets so that they can develop customer experience management strategies by concentrating on the most important components of customer experience.     

On the Significance of Difference‐Making Principles

It has been claimed that difference‐making plays important roles in both metaphysics and epistemology. The idea is that facts often make a difference to other facts. Thus, causes are said to make a difference to their effects, and the world is thought to make a difference to what is believed. One way to cash out this idea is in terms of the notion of counterfactual dependence between the facts in question. It has recently been objected by some philosophers, however, that the counterfactual‐dependence account misrepresents the difference‐making idea, prompting them to offer a different, weaker construal of the idea in question, which, they claim, illuminates a number of problems in both epistemology and metaphysics. This article, while acknowledging that the difference‐making idea is a genuine constraint on some of our concepts, challenges the claim that the weaker interpretation has significant philosophical potentials and, having delineated its real function, spells out the lessons that should be drawn from its failure.