Most of previous word of mouth studies focused on marketing and consumer behavior issues. However, for job applicants, word of mouth could be a significant reference when applicants are looking for jobs. The present study tried to find out if word of mouth will influence organizational attractiveness perceived by potential applicants and under what situations related to word of mouth have the stronger effect. Hence, the study examined if the impact of word of mouth and if these impacts are moderated by the situational variables of tie strength with presenters and expertise of presenters and moderated by individual-difference variables of self-monitoring, self-esteem, and risk-taking. Results indicated that word of mouth has significant impact on organizational attractiveness. The moderation effects of potential applicants¡¦ tie strength with presenters, expertise of presenters, and self-esteem are also supported.

Most of previous works focused on the relationship between organizational attractiveness as an employer and instrumental attributes of employer image. Potential job seekers were viewed as rational and alone decision makers. However, in addition to objective facts, potential job seekers consider other facts when they make a job decision such as emotional facts and perceived harmony with organization. Furthermore, potential job seekers hold a vague impression on a potential employer. Others¡¦ opinions of potential employers must be their crucial information sources and they may change decision because of others¡¦ opinion. The study add symbolic meaning construct to employer image and research the relationship between it and organizational attractiveness as an employer and found it is significant related to organizational attractiveness as an employer. The mediated effect of the similarity between potential job seekers¡¦ personality and organizations¡¦ personality and others¡¦ opinions are considered here. Both of them don¡¦t significant mediated the relationship between employer image and organizational attractiveness as an employer.

Scholars suggest that organizational diversity management (DM) programs are useful not only to satisfy legal requirements or social demands, but also to further the achievement of business objectives. However, much is still to be learned about the effects of such programs on individuals' perceptions of the organization. After reviewing the relevant literature on organization-level DM programs, I present a theoretical framework using recent literature that takes a strategic perspective on DM. This research classifies organization-sponsored DM programs into qualitatively different categories. Using the typology, I develop a model that proposes person-organization fit perceptions and attributions as mechanisms driving the relationship between DM programs and organizational attractiveness. I describe two experimental studies designed to test the proposed relationships between organizational diversity perspectives and applicants' perceptions of organizations. The first follows a two-phase between-subject design, while the second uses a within-subject policy-capturing methodology. Results, implications, and conclusions are discussed.

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> <w:UseFELayout /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]> <object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object><mce:style><! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --> <!--[endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Garamond; panose-1:2 2 4 4 3 3 1 1 8 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:9.0pt; margin-left:0cm; text-align:justify; text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Garamond; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Garamond; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normal tabell"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} --> <!--[endif]--></p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this study is to examine what attributes graduating students prefer when choosing their first employer after graduation. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Background:</strong> To attract good employees are becoming more and more important. Since there are over 60 000 students graduating every year from universities in Sweden, it is crucial for organizations to know how to best attract these talents. It is generally small- and medium sized companies (SMC’s) that have problem since they don’t have the resources to find information and brand themselves as good employers, and hence, large multinational companies are being ranked as the most attractive employers. If these SMC’s would know what attributes the graduate students find most important, they would be able to focus on those and more successfully attract the students suitable for their organization.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> In order to fulfill the purpose, an exploratory study had been made. Quantitative data was collected by a delivery and collection questionnaire, which was handed out in classes at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) and Jönköping School of Engineering (JTH). The findings in this thesis are based on 124 graduating students preferred job attributes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> When looking at JIBS and JTH in total, the students find attributes relating to responsibilities and involvement in decision making to be the most important. However, when only looking at JTH, the students value job security and good relationship at the workplace over other attributes. At JIBS, graduate students are attracted to jobs where they can take responsibility and make further career advancements.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

國外實證研究證實，個人外表與其在勞動市場的表現密切相關，但台灣目前尚無學者從美貌理論的面向，探討身材、相貌與個人薪資水平有無關係。因此，為了初探台灣勞動市場是否存有“平庸懲罰”和“俊美獎勵”的情況，本文以太子汽車工業股份有限公司之員工為研究對象，以BMI值外加相貌等級作為個人外表的觀察指標，檢驗太子汽車工業股份有限公司員工之身材、相貌，與其所獲取的薪資有無關連，期能藉此彌補相關文獻，多從個人特徵及人力資本考量勞動者薪資差異之不足。 本文以最小平方法（OLS），將男性非銷售人員、女性非銷售人員、及銷售人員分別估計。實證結果如下：首先，在男性非銷售人員部分，婚姻、教育與年資對其時薪皆有正面效果；國小以下子女數、年資平方及BMI值肥胖則有負面影響。其中，肥胖者時薪偏低的情況，可能與「雇主歧視」有關。至於男性非銷售人員之相貌則與其薪資無關。 其次，在女性非銷售人員部分，其估計結果與男性非銷售人員有極大的落差，僅有年齡和相貌與其時薪呈正相關；其餘的個人特徵及人力資本變數皆未達顯著水準。 最後在銷售人員部分，婚姻及教育程度與其時薪呈正相關；BMI值過輕對時薪則有不利的影響，此現象可能源自於消費者歧視。至於相貌等級與銷售人員的時薪無關。 部門間時薪比較的結果如下：就男性非銷售人員而言，部門員工平均時薪由高至低分別為總經理室、會計部、稽核室、售後服務本部、資訊部、管理部、國外部、法務部、採購部、塗裝部、營業本部、製造部、品保部、技術部、工務部、財務部及售後服務場。而女性非銷售人員之平均時薪由高至低則分屬國外部、總經理室、售後服務場、工務部、品保部、製造部、塗裝部及技術部。 。 / This study aims to apply the theory of beauty to the labor market in Taiwan and attempts to investigate determinants of the wage difference for the sake of being the supplement to the existing literature related to this research field which primarily consider the gender or human capital factors. This study takes the data form the data bank of Prince Motor Corporation. The total number of sample used in this study is 754 and the empirical employed in this study is OLS Model. The findings suggest that marital status, education, experience have a positive effect on non-sales men’s hourly wages; number of children under age 12, square of experience, and being overweight, a negative effect. For non-sales women, hourly wages are only significantly and positively affected by age and attractiveness. Compared with non-sales men, significant earnings premium for attractive are found for women. Finally, the sales people who are married and have higher education definitely have higher hourly wages and who are obese oppositely pay a penalty.

Although a vast amount of research has examined why job seekers become attracted to organizations, few studies have focused on how job seekers develop an initial attraction and attachment to organizations. In order to address this gap in the literature, this study examined the relationship between the ways new organizations communicate and potential job seekers' perceptions of organizational attractiveness and anticipatory organizational identification. The organizational identification literature has previously shown that organizations often use a variety of inducements in their communication to foster identification among members, and that when members perceive that membership in an organization is an opportunity to affirm, distinguish, or enhance their self-concepts, the perceived organizational identity becomes more attractive. Drawing upon these findings, this study posited that a similar relationship would occur between organizations and potential job seekers. In addition, based on findings on social categorization, this study examined whether the effectiveness of identification inducements varied depending on whether the new organization was situated within an established or emerging industry. In established industries, new organizations face the risk of being stereotyped based on job seekers' preexisting knowledge of the industry, and therefore effectively invisible to job seekers as unique organizations. In emerging industries, because it is not entirely clear what defines this set of organizations, new organizations face the risk that job seekers may be less certain about how they might connect with these organizations, and therefore tend to find them less attractive. As a consequence of these cognitive differences, this study posited that the effectiveness of identification inducements would depend on the type of industry. An experiment was conducted to test these hypotheses. Participants consisted of students either currently or recently active in job seeking activities. The findings indicate that the presence of identification inducements in an organization's external communication positively impacted job seekers' perceptions and attachment to organizations, and that the primary mechanism for this effect was job seekers' perception of similarity. No differences were found between new organizations in established versus emerging industries in terms of the impact of identification inducements. Theoretical and managerial implications of these results were discussed. / text

The relationship between infants’ neural processing of and visual preferences for attractive and unattractive faces was investigated through the integration of event-related potential and preferential looking methods. Six-month-olds viewed color images of female faces previously rated by adults for attractiveness. The faces were presented in contrasting pairs of attractiveness (attractive/unattractive) for 1.5-second durations. The results showed that compared to attractive faces, unattractive faces elicited larger N290 amplitudes at left hemisphere electrode sites (PO9) and smaller P400 amplitudes at electrode sites across both hemispheres (PO9 and PO10). There were no significant differences between infants’ overall looking times based on attractiveness, however, a significant relationship was found between amplitude and trial looking time; larger N290 amplitudes were associated with longer trial looking times. The results suggest that compared to attractive faces, unattractive faces require greater cognitive resources and longer initial attention for visual processing. / text

The adverse effect of the exposure to images of attractive females on women's body image and mood has been well-documented in studies conducted in various western and westernized nations. However, research designed to determine the effect of exposure to attractive female images on men has been rather neglected. Past findings indicate that after being exposed to exceptionally attractive female images, males report less satisfaction for a current relationship, rate average-looking females as less attractive, and express less affection for their significant other compared to those men exposed to control images. It is currently not known, however, whether a psychoeducational intervention might prevent the negative media exposure effect. Additionally, it is not known if the exposure effect might be moderated by dispositional characteristics of the participant. This study was designed to determine if a psychoeducational manipulation consisting of information regarding the unrealistic appearance standards currently required of women would mitigate the ratings men give of average-looking women following exposure to attractive images. Additionally, two dispositional measures were included (appearance-schematicity and female-ideal internalization) in order to evaluate whether these trait levels would moderate the effects of the exposure manipulation.the participants were 159 male undergraduate students between 18 and 30 years of age. The majority (57%) of them were Caucasian, followed by 19% who were Hispanic/Latino and 11% who were African-American. Their mean age was 19.80 (SD = 2.06) and mean BMI was 24.90 (SD = 4.20). Most of them (42%) were not seeing anyone currently, whereas 39% of them were in a committed relationship. The findings partially supported the hypotheses. The males who were exposed to the attractive female images evaluated average females less physically attractive than those exposed to a control condition (inanimate objects); however, the psychoeducation did not reduce the adverse exposure effect. Instead, the combination of neutral audio-information and control exposure condition resulted in the most favorable ratings of average females. Regarding dispositional characteristics, female-ideal internalization was associated with the loss of interest in dating average females and the overestimation of a current partner's weight after the experiment. The limitations and implications of the study findings are discussed.

People use facial appearance to infer the social attributes of others. A primary indicator of facial attractiveness is prototypicality (the proximity of an object to its categorical central tendency); faces and objects closer to the central tendency are judged as more attractive. Perceptual fluency theory suggests that cognitive processing speed directly generates positive affect. This dissertation examined the relationships among attractiveness, prototypicality, and affective response in faces and non-face objects across adult and 8-year-old participants using a reaction time (RT) paradigm. RT predicted positive affect and disgust responses to facial stimuli. Of particular note are the series of complementary findings suggesting that reaction to unattractive faces may be both quantitatively (i.e., longer RT latencies) and qualitatively (i.e., judged to be less typical) different from high and medium attractive faces. These findings may help explain how appearance-based stereotypes are formed and maintained. / text

Darbo objektas – medicinos turizmo patrauklumas. Tyrimo problema: neaišku, koks yra Lietuvos medicinos turizmo patrauklumas paslaugų vartotojams? Darbo tikslas – nustatyti medicinos turizmo patrauklumą paslaugų vartotojams Lietuvos turizmo verslo atstovų kontekste. Siekiant šio tikslo, iškelti tokie darbo uždaviniai: 1.išsiaiškinti medicinos turizmo vietą kitų turizmo rūšių atžvilgiu; 2.apžvelgti medicinos turizmo vystymąsi skatinančius veiksnius; 3.aptarti medicinos turizmo padėtį užsienio šalyse ir Lietuvoje; 4.nustatyti Lietuvos medicinos turizmo stipriąsias ir silpnąsias puses; 5.įvertinti Lietuvos medicinos turizmo paslaugų rinkos patrauklumą vartotojams turizmo verslo atstovų kontekste. Mokslininkų teigimu, medicinos turizmas yra vienas iš sveikatos saugojimo ir gerinimo būdų, kurio pagrindinis tikslas yra žmonių keliavimas šalies viduje ar į kitą šalį, siekiant padidinti subalansuotą fizinį, dvasinį ir socialinį sveikatos potencialą, gaunant sveikatinimo, sveikatingumo ir kitų turizmo paslaugų. Kitaip tariant, medicinos turizmas yra viena iš naujų turizmo rūšių, užimantis tam tikrą vietą sveikatos turizmo sistemoje. Medicinos turizmo vystymąsi labiausiai skatina tokie veiksniai: aplinkos veiksniai (klimato sąlygos, gamtos ištekliai, geografinė vieta), pažangos veiksniai, kurie apima subjektų, siūlančių bei teikiančių medicinos turizmo paslaugas daugiausiai privačiose ligoninėse ar įmonėse, investicijas. Taip pat internetinių išteklių naudojimas, plėtojant medicinos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Subject of the study – medical tourism attractiveness. The problem of the survey: it is not clear what is the attractiveness of Lithuanian medical tourism for incoming medical tourists? The objective of the study – find out the level of medical tourism attractiveness for tourists in the context of Lithuanian tourism industry. The following tasks to achieve this objective: 1.find out the location of medical tourism in other tourism species; 2.review the factors that promote the development of medical tourism; 3.discuss the situation of medical tourism in foreign countries and in Lithuania; 4.find out strengths and weaknesses of Lithuanian medical tourism; 5.evaluate the attractiveness of Lithuanian medical tourism market for consumers in the context of Lithuanian tourism industry. According to scientists, medical tourism is one of the ways to improve health. The main objective of this tourism is traveling within the country or to another country in order to increase the balance of physical, mental social health potential, getting health, fitness and other services. In other words, medical tourism is one of new types of tourism, occupying a place in health tourism system. Medical tourism development is mainly driven by the following factors: environmental factors (climate, natural resources, geographical location), progress factors, which include investments that are offered by private hospitals or companies. Another factors are online resources, quality (specialists)... [to full text]