Extending Models of Prosocial Behavior to Explain University Alumni Contributions1

Survey data merged with contribution records from a development office database provided a basis for understanding alumni support for a university. The survey randomly sampled alumni of a state university school of management who had graduated between 1980 and 1988. Subjects filled out mail questionnaires measuring social psychological constructs from the literature on prosocial behavior. The determinants of obligation to donate included perceived efficacy, perceived need, reciprocity, and individual attachment to the university. Obligation and other constructs explained the number of donations recorded in the development office database over 6 years. The model also predicted intentions to support the university by working for an alumni association or attending reunions. This model of alumni donation leads to recommendations for designing university fund-raising communications.     

Consumer recycling: role of incentives,information, and social class

• More and more communities have instituted recycling programs and consumer recycling is no longer a new fad; it is here to stay. However, consumer commitment to recycling and participation rates have leveled off. Whereas lack of access to recycling facilities was cited as a key inhibitor to participation in the early days of recycling, that is generally not the case anymore. Thus there is an imperative to revisit consumer recycling by focusing on behavioral issues that reflect today's context. In this study we review the past literature and propose a comprehensive model of consumer recycling. We identify two intervention mechanisms – incentives or information – that are believed to increase recycling participation. We, then, describe a longitudinal field experiment to evaluate the relative merits of these intervention programs. We conclude that either intervention program is effective, although informational programs appear to have more long‐term effects than incentive programs. We also create a new measure of social class, one that includes other influential actors' characteristics, and show its relationship to recycling attitudes and behaviors.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The G-NORM Scale: Development and Validation of a Theory-Based Gender Norms Scale

Sex Roles - Gender norms are increasingly recognized as important modifiers of health. Despite growing awareness of how gender norms affect health behavior, current gender norms scales are often...     

Use of the Risk Perception Attitude Framework for Promoting Breast Cancer Prevention

The risk perception attitude (RPA) framework classifies people into 4 groups based on their perceptions of risk and personal efficacy: responsive (high risk, high efficacy), avoidance (high risk, low efficacy), proactive (low risk, high efficacy), and indifference (low risk, low efficacy). This study tested the central propositions from the RPA framework among a group of immigrant Indian women (N = 413) in the Washington, DC area in their propensity to pay attention to breast cancer information and engage in self‐exams and clinical screening. Self‐efficacy and knowledge about breast cancer were consistent predictors of these outcomes. Use of the RPA framework explained 16% to 27% of the variance. Implications for breast cancer prevention campaigns are discussed.     

Online feedback and the regulation of degrees of freedom in motor control

We tested the hypothesis that the degree to which online feedback is used to control movement influences the regulation of degrees of freedom in a task. Ten participants performed an isometric force production task with their two index fingers with the goal of matching the total force to a target waveform. The role of online feedback was manipulated by changing three factors - the tracking mode, the profile of the target waveform, and the visual gain. The results showed that the coupling between the finger forces was lower in conditions where participants used online feedback to correct their movements compared to conditions where more feedforward strategies were used. The availability of online feedback is dependent on the nature of the task and this contributes to task-dependent changes in the regulation of the degrees of freedom.     

Noneconomic goals of investors

• This study adopts a consumer perspective and explores investors' noneconomic goals. This approach shifts the focus from the investment vehicle and its performance to the investor and her/his investing goals. We explore the influence of religiosity, environmental attitude, materialism, collectivism, risk tolerance, and social investing efficacy on investors' noneconomic goals. We find that social investing efficacy mediates the relationships between the aforementioned variables and noneconomic goals. Implications for managerial practice are discussed.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The secondary passivity: Merleau-Ponty at the limit of phenomenology

Continental Philosophy Review - This paper considers the move from passivity to a generative passivity in Merleau-Ponty’s ontology. In The Visible and the Invisible Merleau-Ponty calls this...     

Cognitive Management in an Enduring International Rivalry: The Case of India and Pakistan

Using integrative complexity scoring, the current study addresses how communications by leaders of India and Pakistan have revealed their information processing and decision-making strategies. The hostility between India and Pakistan started with the official creation of the two states and has lasted through more than a half-century. It has been marked by four full-scale wars and almost constant ethnopolitical, terrorist, and guerrilla violence. It is one of the most enduring and bloody binational rivalries of recent decades. Shared aspects of history and culture make the comparisons relatively free of confounding factors. In common with previous findings, complexity scores have shown reliable associations with impending war and with continued peace (or low-intensity conflict).     

The Role of Brand Familiarity in Internal Reference Price Formation: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective

Very little research focused on the process by which internal reference prices are formed and used by consumers making price judgments. The accessibility-diagnosticity model is proposed as a parsimonious theoretical framework that resolves some conflicts in prior research and provides a foundation for future research on internal reference prices. This model is used to evaluate the role of brand familiarity and involvement on the formation and use of internal reference price standards. Empirical results show that (1) involvement is a better predictor of confidence in internal reference prices than brand familiarity, and (2) in forming internal reference price estimates, the offering price is discounted more for unfamiliar brands than familiar brands, but only when involvement is low. When involvement is high, the effect of brand familiarity on reference price estimates disappears. Implications for future research on internal reference price effects and for promotion practice are discussed.