The impact of customer engagement on customer happiness

Previous studies have found relationships between variables that predict happiness and engagement. While this suggests that engagement is a basis for generating customer happiness, the literature does not provide sufficient confirmatory evidence. Thus, the effects of different engagement intensities remain unclear. Focusing on conditions related to the Starbucks brand, this study analyzed how (1) passive and active engagement impacted customer happiness and (2) happiness impacted word of mouth (WOM) and purchase intention. Data were collected through an online survey among 802 Peruvian customers, all of whom were recruited via non-probabilistic sampling. Because two exogenous variables were considered formative (i.e., customer engagement and customer happiness), a partial least-squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was used for the analysis. In sum, engagement (both passive and active) significantly and positively impacted customer happiness, which then positively impacted WOM and purchase intention. Given that engagement is associated with variables that are broadly related to happiness, this study makes new contributions by (i) clarifying how customer engagement can generate customer happiness, (ii) identifying differences between active and passive engagement, and (iii) adding evidence for use in the debate on the purpose of marketing and traditional practices such as engagement. As discussed in the paper, these findings have theoretical and practical implications for brand managers.     

One-year prediction of cognitive decline following cognitive-stimulation from real-world data

Clinical evidence based on real-world data (RWD) is accumulating exponentially providing larger sample sizes available, which demand novel methods to deal with the enhanced heterogeneity of the data. Here, we used RWD to assess the prediction of cognitive decline in a large heterogeneous sample of participants being enrolled with cognitive stimulation, a phenomenon that is of great interest to clinicians but that is riddled with difficulties and limitations. More precisely, from a multitude of neuropsychological Training Materials (TMs), we asked whether was possible to accurately predict an individual's cognitive decline one year after being tested. In particular, we performed longitudinal modelling of the scores obtained from 215 different tests, grouped into 29 cognitive domains, a total of 124,610 instances from 7902 participants (40% male, 46% female, 14% not indicated), each performing an average of 16 tests. Employing a machine learning approach based on ROC analysis and cross-validation techniques to overcome overfitting, we show that different TMs belonging to several cognitive domains can accurately predict cognitive decline, while other domains perform poorly, suggesting that the ability to predict decline one year later is not specific to any particular domain, but is rather widely distributed across domains. Moreover, when addressing the same problem between individuals with a common diagnosed label, we found that some domains had more accurate classification for conditions such as Parkinson's disease and Down syndrome, whereas they are less accurate for Alzheimer's disease or multiple sclerosis. Future research should combine similar approaches to ours with standard neuropsychological measurements to enhance interpretability and the possibility of generalizing across different cohorts.     

Hans-Martin Sass,Robert M. Veatch,Rihito Kimura (eds.). Advance Directives and Surrogate Decision Making in Health Care

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

The Assessment of Marital Adjustment with Chinese Populations: A Study of the Psychometric Properties of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale

This article presents findings from a study of the psychometric properties of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) with 63 Chinese-Americans. The analysis revealed high internal consistency for DAS scores. Coefficient alpha for the total DAS score was r = .93. Convergent validity was established with the Locke-Wallis Marital Adjustment Scale (LWMAT) (r = .87) and divergent validity by evidence of an inverse relationship with the Marital Disaffection Scale (MDS) (r = –.79). Correlations with each measure were found to be (p = 0.01). The result of factor analysis fail to support the presence of four separate subscales. Results show that the global DAS score is of potential utility with Asian samples.     

Is There A Simple,Pedestrian Arithmetic Sentence Which Is Independent Of Zfc?

We show that the P < NP conjecture can beformulated as a Pi₂ ⁰ sentence, and explore some of theconsequences of that fact. This paper summarizes recent workby the author with N. C. A. da Costa on the P相似文献   

Can animation compensate for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people?

This article addresses the issue of animation as an aid for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people learning the Highway Code. A decision-making task involving static or animated road situations was performed by 21 deaf and 24 hearing participants. They were confronted with four types of driving situations (overtaking, negotiating roundabouts, highways, and intersections) and had to decide whether or not to proceed. Participants were presented with two different formats (static vs. animated) and two levels of difficulty (simple vs. complex). Results showed that deaf participants had poorer performances in the static condition than hearing participants. Performance was better in the animated condition than in the static condition, especially in deaf participants. The benefits of animation were greater in complex situations for all participants. Decisions made on dynamic road situations were facilitated by the presence of spatiotemporal dimensions. These proved helpful to deaf candidates who have difficulties in this particular area.     

Findings on the relationship between Internet addiction and psychological symptoms in Brazilian adults

This study evaluated the prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) and its association with negative psychological symptoms in Brazilian adults. A network analysis was conducted to estimate specific variables and their expected influence on IA. In this cross-sectional study, 15,476 adults (M_age = 37.5, SD = 9.59) completed an open web-based survey. Three questionnaires were used: the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Based on IAT scores, participants were classified as No-Risk user (NRU), Low-Risk user (LRU) or High-Risk user (HRU). We observed that 4.8% of the participants were classified in the HRU group. In addition, their risk for severe symptoms of depression was 10 times higher and, for anxiety, seven times higher than that in the NRU group (p < .001). Time spent using smartphones was also significantly higher in the HRU group (M_hours = 5.1, p < .001). The main factors associated with IA were depression, gender and anxiety, but the variable “having children” was the most influential in the IA network. These findings suggest that psychiatric symptoms are the main factors associated with IA among the adult population.     

Maternal perinatal representations and their associations with mother–infant interaction and attachment: A longitudinal comparison of Portuguese and Brazilian dyads

Prior research in Western countries (mostly the US, Canada and northern Europe) indicates that mothers' representations are associated with mother–infant interaction quality and their child's attachment security later in the first year. Fewer studies, however, have evaluated whether these associations hold for mother–infant dyads in other countries, such as Brazil and Portugal. Although these countries share a similar language and culture, they differ on societal dimensions that may affect parenting attitudes and mother–infant relationships, such as economic stress, social organisation, social policy, and the availability of services for young families. In this longitudinal study, we followed two independent samples of Brazilian and Portuguese mother–infant dyads from the perinatal period to 12 months post-partum. We assessed mothers' perinatal representations using semi-structured interviews in the first 48 hours after the infant's birth, and evaluated the associations of these representations with mother interaction quality at 9 months and infant attachment at 12 months. Results were similar in each country, corroborating prior research in single Western countries: Mothers with more positive perinatal representations were more sensitive to their infants during free play at 9 months and were more likely to have infants classified as securely attached at 12 months.