Drawing from signaling theory, this study investigates the processes through which corporate image (CI) for quality affects attitudinal loyalty. The research hypotheses are examined using data from a cross-sectional survey and two scenario-based experiments. Overall, findings across these three studies suggest that the effects of CI upon loyalty are channeled through customer satisfaction and perceived value. The effects of CI on perceived value and loyalty are stronger relative to the effects of employee interaction quality (IQ) when IQ is measured as an overall evaluation. However, when employee IQ is measured in reference to a specific service encounter, it becomes a stronger driver of perceived value and loyalty relative to CI. Regardless of the context of measurement (i.e., overall evaluation vs. a specific service encounter), employee IQ exerts a stronger influence on customer satisfaction than CI. CI negatively moderates the effect of employee IQ on customer satisfaction and loyalty, rendering the effect of employee IQ upon customer evaluations less critical for service providers with stronger CIs. The findings highlight the relevance and importance of CI as a signal of unobservable quality, which should be measured and closely monitored by management. Managers should also recognize the central role of customer satisfaction, especially in channeling the effects of IQ upon loyalty, and therefore, design policies that enhance frontline employee ability and motivation to deliver satisfying customer experiences.

Drawing from signaling theory, this study investigates the processes through which corporate image (CI) for quality affects attitudinal loyalty. The research hypotheses are examined using data from a cross-sectional survey and two scenario-based experiments. Overall, findings across these three studies suggest that the effects of CI upon loyalty are channeled through customer satisfaction and perceived value. The effects of CI on perceived value and loyalty are stronger relative to the effects of employee interaction quality (IQ) when IQ is measured as an overall evaluation. However, when employee IQ is measured in reference to a specific service encounter, it becomes a stronger driver of perceived value and loyalty relative to CI. Regardless of the context of measurement (i.e., overall evaluation vs. a specific service encounter), employee IQ exerts a stronger influence on customer satisfaction than CI. CI negatively moderates the effect of employee IQ on customer satisfaction and loyalty, rendering the effect of employee IQ upon customer evaluations less critical for service providers with stronger CIs. The findings highlight the relevance and importance of CI as a signal of unobservable quality, which should be measured and closely monitored by management. Managers should also recognize the central role of customer satisfaction, especially in channeling the effects of IQ upon loyalty, and therefore, design policies that enhance frontline employee ability and motivation to deliver satisfying customer experiences.

While managers increasingly see the importance of corporate social responsibility, incorporating it in the business often fails (Keys et al., 2009). Organizational sustainability performance can improve if employees have positive attitudes towards sustainability (Wang et al., 2011). This thesis aims to explore how different leadership behaviours in case company Cybercom have influenced the attitudes of its employees. New analytical tools are developed for analysing the data collected through interviews with employees at Cybercom. The findings indicate several connections between the leadership behaviours studied, and the attitudinal components. One main finding was that all four leadership behaviours in Cybercom had, to a certain extent, led to the affective outcome of feeling that sustainability was more important, the cognitive outcome of learning about the business perspective of sustainability, and the behavioural outcome of communicating more or differently about sustainability. It is concluded that Cybercom has helped shape its employees’ attitudes through various factors such as employee training, leaders acting as role models and motivators, written materials and workshops.The theoretical contributions of this paper consist of new knowledge in the field of leadership shaping employee attitudes, as well as new analytical tools. The practical contributions of this paper are managerial implications for Cybercom.

The interaction between the President and Congress is many times quite public and well documented (Cronin 1980; Covington et al. 1995; Fisher 1994; Schlesinger 2004). Similarly, relations between the Congress and the Supreme Court are well documented; Congress makes law and, if requested, the Court interprets it. The interaction between the president and the Court, however, is not nearly as well defined, and certainly not as public. Supreme Court cases involving the president directly are fairly rare. King and Meernik (1995) identify 347 cases involving the foreign policy powers of the president, decided from 1790 to 1996, which is roughly 1.5 cases per calendar year. This study will examine the influence of attitudinal and extra-attitudinal factors on the individual level decision-making of the U.S. Supreme Court justices in cases involving presidential power. By using both attitudinal and extra-attitudinal factors, such as public opinion and armed conflict, this study will explore the limitations of a simple attitudinal model in complex and highly salient cases such as those that involve presidential power. The cases to be examined will be all presidential power cases decided from 1949 to 2005 (N = 38). The unit of analysis will, however, be the justice's individual-level vote (N = 337).

Women’s food purchasing and eating habits have been studied in detail, but are still not entirely understood. Prior research has sought to segment the female food shopper market, but typically use only demographic characteristics. In this study, fifty females were recruited in San Luis Obispo, CA from March 2012 to May 2012 to keep an electronic food-time diary for one week. By collecting information through surveys distributed using a smartphone application, SurveySwipe, the study investigated the amount of time expended for each meal, as well as the manner in which the meal was prepared or purchased, and the context surrounding the eating situation, for a period of seven days. A segmentation of these female food consumers was then formed in order to demonstrate that by using attitudinal and behavioral data, a unique segmentation scheme may be achieved, different than would have resulted using only demographic information. For the data analysis, four principal components analyses were conducted followed by subsequent cluster analyses, followed by ANOVA and Chi-Square tests. Study participants were segmented in four distinct sets of clusters, or consumer groups. Of the four sets of clusters formed, one was created using solely demographic variables, whereas the other three used “food time” variables comprised of behavioral and attitudinal information. It may be inferred from the results that the behavior of the participants within each cluster was similar regarding a particular variable being tested, while it differed from the behavior of participants in other clusters (regarding the same variable being tested). Specifically, an abundance of key, significant differences were found with the “food time” variables. The study supports the use of variables related to “food time” allocation and the context of the eating situation as they relate to the purchase, preparation, and consumption of food, instead of only demographic attributes. The results will be useful for food marketers and product developers seeking to understand how food fits into the lives of female consumers with diverse roles and behaviors, in addition to being valuable for segmenting a select market or targeting a particular customer type.

This thesis will focus on split ticket voting. Split ticket voting refers to an aspect of voting behavior where the individual will cast votes for different political parties for different offices. Through the development of countless theories and utilizing data, political scientists have managed to shed some light as to why an individual may engage in split-ticket voting. However, many of these studies have been too narrow in their focus, for instance, relying on a specific election without taking into account some major variables that provide the foundation for voting behavior. The purpose of this study is to provide scholars with an idea of what characteristics exist most commonly among split-ticket voters compared with straight-ticket voters. What variables work together to cause an individual to engage in split ticket voting? Specifically, this thesis will examine the contribution of variables in explaining ticket splitting. Despite studies of the causes of split-ticket voting, the field is still unclear as to what causes an individual to engage in split-ticket voting. What individual variables cause an individual to engage in ticket splitting?

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