Organizational forms can become institutionalized in the sense that their existence and application is taken-for-granted and perceived as legitimate by stakeholders. Over time, new organizational forms can emerge that challenge perceived legitimacy of the established form. From this perspective, this dissertation examined institutionalization in the context of online business degree programs (OBDP) in higher education. Specifically, this dissertation examined OBDP as an emerging institutionalized form in relation to its cognitive legitimacy (taken-for-grantedness) and sociopolitical legitimacy (appropriateness) from the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups (students, faculty, academic administrators, and business practitioners). Survey results suggest that OBDPs are perceived as cognitively legitimate across each of the groups studied and socio-politically legitimate in each the four groups studied except for faculty. Furthermore, a conjoint experiment was conducted to determine the influence that four program related characteristics (accreditation, reputation, placement after graduation, and physical linkage) have on the legitimacy perceptions of OBDPs. Conjoint results indicate that each of the factors studied were significant predictors of legitimacy with accreditation being the most significant across each of the four groups. These findings provide a novel test of institutional theory as well as contributing to practice by offering strategic guidance to business schools either currently offering ODBPs or those planning to develop an online version of an existing program.

Submitted by Reginaldo Soares de Freitas (reginaldo.freitas@ufv.br) on 2016-11-10T17:19:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 745728 bytes, checksum: fc335354ab525eb061d44a81436912aa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-10T17:19:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 745728 bytes, checksum: fc335354ab525eb061d44a81436912aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-02-25 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A embalagem possui importância fundamental na escolha do produto durante a compra, uma vez que ela representa o primeiro contato entre o consumidor e o produto. Fatores relacionados à embalagem como cor, textura e informações influenciam na intenção de compra dos consumidores. Assim, para se otimizar o processo de escolha e aceitação do produto, é interessante que se identifique os fatores da embalagem valorizados pelo consumidor. Para obter informações detalhadas sobre o comportamento de compra e a opinião dos consumidores e para identificar os fatores da embalagem de café orgânico considerados mais importantes por eles, foram conduzidas três sessões de focus group, com um total de 24 participantes. Os resultados desse estudo qualitativo revelaram que o preço, a marca, a cor da embalagem e informações sobre o produto orgânico são fatores que possuem grande influência sobre o consumidor durante a compra. Tais fatores foram selecionados para fazer parte da etapa subseqüente do estudo, o estudo de mercado de café orgânico, caracterizado pelo estudo do impacto da embalagem de café orgânico na intenção de compra do consumidor. Para cada fator selecionado, foram definidos dois níveis: preço (alto e baixo), marca (conhecida e desconhecida), cor da embalagem (verde e vermelha) e informação adicional sobre orgânicos (com e sem as informações “produto isento de agrotóxicos” e “não agride o meio ambiente”). Baseando-se no método de coleta de dados perfil completo e no arranjo fatorial do tipo completo, os níveis dos quatro fatores foram combinados, obtendo-se 16 embalagens de café orgânico. Estas embalagens foram avaliadas, em termos de intenção de compra, por 144 consumidores, que informaram, também, suas características demográficas em questionário. Os dados de intenção de compra foram analisados por conjoint analysis, segundo o método clustering segmentation. Dessa maneira, os dados foram analisados para cada consumidor (análises individuais) e, também, de forma agregada. Nas análises individuais, foram calculadas as part-worths (PW) para os 144 participantes. O agrupamento de consumidores foi feito por meio do método average distance, tendo a distância Euclidiana como medida de dissimilaridade, baseando-se nos valores de PW estimados nas análises individuais. Foram investigadas três estratégias de análise para a inclusão e o agrupamento dos consumidores: a primeira considerou para o agrupamento os consumidores cujas análises de variância (ANOVA) indicaram efeito significativo (p =0,10) de fatores; a segunda adotou p=0,20 como critério para a inclusão de consumidores na ANOVA; e a terceira incluiu todos os 144 participantes na análise agregada. A semelhança entre os agrupamentos estudados e o fato de que todos os participantes eram consumidores em potencial para o produto levou à escolha da segmentação em nove grupos, incluindo os 144 consumidores. O primeiro grupo, o qual representa 72,2% dos consumidores, teve sua intenção de compra baseada na marca, no preço e na informação adicional sobre orgânicos. Nesse grupo, o preço apresentou a maior importância relativa (IR), com valor igual a 38,9%. A marca e o preço afetaram a intenção de compra do grupo 2 (13,9% dos consumidores), apresentando IR’s iguais a 11,2% e 77,1%, respectivamente. O grupo 3, formado por 3 consumidores (2,1% dos participantes), fez seu julgamento baseado apenas no preço, com IR de 90,1%. A marca (IR = 11,3%), a cor (IR = 46,5%), a informação adicional (IR = 12,1%) e o preço (IR = 30,1%) influenciaram a intenção de compra dos consumidores do grupo 4, que representou 6,9% do total de consumidores. Os últimos cinco grupos foram constituídos apenas por 1 ou 2 consumidores e seus resultados não foram discutidos. Os dados demográficos dos participantes sugeriram que consumidores jovens e em faixas de renda inferiores atribuem grande importância ao preço do produto. Para 93,0% dos consumidores, a marca apresentou IR superior a 11,0%. Esses consumidores, pertencentes aos grupos 1, 2 e 4, atribuíram intenção de compra à marca Bom Dia, sugerindo que o café orgânico de marca conhecida possui qualidade superior ao de marca desconhecida. Um total de 88,2% dos consumidores (pertencentes aos grupos 1, 2 e 3) foram pouco afetados pelo fator cor (IR < 6%). As informações “produto isento de agrotóxicos” e “não agride o meio ambiente” influenciaram positivamente a intenção de compra de 79,1% dos consumidores (grupos 1 e 4). Nesses casos, a IR foi superior a 12%. Para todos os consumidores, o preço influenciou a intenção de compra; em todos os grupos, o preço baixo contribuiu para um impacto positivo na intenção de compra dos consumidores. A conjoint analysis revelou-se uma ferramenta de uso simples, com resultados de fácil interpretação, indicando que os consumidores avaliam todas combinações de fatores para julgar sua intenção de compra, sem se prender em apenas um fator da embalagem. / Packaging plays a fundamental role on product choice during purchase, since it represents the first contact between the consumer and the product. Package color, texture and information influence on consumers' purchase intention. To optimize the choice process and product acceptance, it would be interesting to identify the packaging factors most valued by consumer. To obtain detailed information on the purchase behavior and the consumers' opinion and to identify the factors of organic coffee packaging considered more important to consumers, three sessions of focus group were conducted, with a total of 24 participants. The results of that qualitative study revealed that price, brand name, packaging color and information on the organic product are all factors that possess great influence on the consumer during the purchase. These factors were selected as part of the subsequent stage of the study, that of organic coffee market, characterized by the study of the impact of organic coffee packaging on consumer's purchase intention. For each selected factor, two levels were defined: price (high and low), brand name (known and unknown), packaging color (green and red) and additional information on organic (with and without the information “environmentally friendly product” and “free of pesticides and herbicides"). Based on the method of data collection of complete profile and on the factorial arrangement of the complete type, the levels of the four factors were combined, resulting in 16 organic coffee packages. A total of 144 consumers evaluated these packagings, in terms of purchase intention; they also informed their demographic characteristics in a questionnaire. The data on purchase intention were analyzed by conjoint analysis, using the clustering segmentation method. So, the data were analyzed for each consumer (individual analyses) and, also, in a joined way. In the individual analyses, part-worths (PW) were calculated for the 144 participants. The consumers were grouped by the average distance method, with the Euclidean distance as a dissimilarity measure, according to PW values estimated in the individual analyses. Three analysis strategies were investigated for the inclusion and the consumers' grouping: the first considered the group of the consumers whose variance analyses (ANOVA) indicated significant effect (p=0.10) of factors; the second adopted p=0.20 as a criterion for consumers' inclusion in ANOVA; and the third one included all the 144 participants in the joined analysis. The similarity between the studied groups and the fact that all the participants were potential consumers of the product led to the choice of the segmentation in nine groups, including the 144 consumers. The first group, which represents 72.2% of the consumers, had its purchase intention based on the brand name, on the price and on additional information on organic. In that group, the price had the largest relative importance (RI): 38.9%. Brand name and price affected purchase intention of group 2 (13.9% of the consumers), with RI values equal to 11.2% and 77.1%, respectively. Group 3, formed by 3 consumers (2.1% of the participants), made its judgment based on price, with RI equal to 90.1%. Brand name (RI = 11.3%), color (RI = 46.5%), additional information (RI = 12.1%) and price (RI = 30.1%) influenced consumers' purchase intention of group 4, which were represented by 6.9% of the consumers. One or two consumers constituted the last five groups and their results were not discussed. The participants' demographic data suggested that young consumers and those in lower levels of income attribute great importance to the price of the product. To 93.0% of the consumers, brand name presented RI above 11.0%. These consumers, belonging to groups 1, 2 and 4, attributed purchase intention to brand name “Bom Dia”, suggesting that organic coffee of a known brand name possesses superior quality to that of unknown brand name. A total of 88.2% of the consumers (belonging to groups 1 to 3) were little affected by the factor color (RI<6%). The information “environmentally friendly product” and “free of pesticides and herbicides" influenced positively the purchase intention of 79.1% of the consumers (groups 1 and 4). In those cases, RI was above 12%. For all consumers, price influenced purchase intention; in all groups, the low price contributed to a positive impact on consumers' purchase intention. Conjoint analysis appeared to be a tool of simple use, with results of easy interpretation: it indicated that consumers evaluate all combinations of factors before buying, and not only one aspect of the package.

abstract: Branding and brand management have been top management priorities in the hotel industry. Some researchers have concluded that strong branding would be an efficient way for hotels and hotel chains to differentiate themselves from each other. Recent studies have focused on the establishment of a brand equity model and the relevant causal relationships of the model. Most of these studies have used types of desirability scales examining the importance of individual factors in measuring brand equity. However, they ignore the trade-offs that affect and characterize choice. Particularly, the personal decision process implied by the hierarchical brand equity model is absent. This study proposed two alternative measures of brand equity, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and conjoint analysis (CA), to address these limitations. The AHP and the CA were compared using several validity measures to aid in selecting efficient methods. This study examined the validity of AHP and CA under two data collection methods applied to hotel branding: paper-based survey and online survey. Result showed that the AHP data collection methods were easier, as well as with respect to saving time and costs. Results also indicated that the AHP is equivalent to the CA with respect to predictive accuracy. Practical differences for hotel branding in attribute preferences were clearly observed between the AHP and the CA. The AHP results were consistent with previous studies by awarding high importance to perceived quality and brand loyalty and lower importance to brand awareness and brand image. Managerial implications were provided for results. In terms of practicality in data collection, the study results revealed that the data gathered online leads to a slightly lower internal and predictive validity. A limitation of this study was that the two methods were not perfectly comparable. Nevertheless, the validity of both AHP and CA seems satisfactory for both methods. The study results also offer useful perspectives to consider when choosing between the two methods, as well as between AHP and CA. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Community Resources and Development 2014

Emerging markets have generated a lot of interest during the last couple of years; one reason for this is the economic growth potential of emerging markets and the opening up of new, interesting and potentially very lucrative groups of consumers. South Africa has a rich and diverse culture and shows signs of major socio-economic inequalities that are symptomatic of emerging economies. In South-Africa, department stores are significant to the emerging market female consumer market as they provide an extensive assortment of products and services. Department stores also offer a number of product categories and each provide an opportunity for indepth analysis. Work apparel is one such product category where more research is required in order to understand how these consumers evaluate product assortments. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe how the emerging market female consumer market (EFC) evaluates work wear product assortments in major South African department stores. The study makes a contribution to the field of retail, marketing and consumer behaviour in terms of a better understanding of the emerging market. It is also valuable in providing insight in consumers’ decision making processes towards work wear and preferences towards product assortment. The theoretical approach to the study included a literature review on the emerging market female consumer in South Africa, the South African retail environment and department stores, product assortment and product attributes. The cue diagnostic framework was used as a theoretical perspective for the study. This consumer-based approach was considered particularly appropriate for this study, in terms of the prioritization by a female consumer in an emerging market of product attributes when she is shopping for work wear and evaluating retailers’ product assortments. Combined with the literature review the cue diagnostic framework offered a theoretical basis for the study and provided an overall perspective on the specific phenomenon to be studied. An exploratory survey research design was employed together with a conjoint analysis method to provide insights into attribute ranking and level of influence of specific attributes. The sample consisted of 120 (n=120) female consumers living and working in Gauteng between the ages of 20 and 60, currently working with some sort of training, diploma or degree. Non-probability sampling methods were used, including purposive and snowball sampling. Respondents completed an online selfadministered questionnaire. To ensure an appropriate sample, the online questionnaire was also distributed in paper-based format.. An exploratory survey research design was employed together with a conjoint analysis method to provide insights into attribute ranking and level of influence of specific attributes. The sample consisted of 120 (n=120) female consumers living and working in Gauteng between the ages of 20 and 60, currently working with some sort of training, diploma or degree. Non-probability sampling methods were used, including purposive and snowball sampling. Respondents completed an online selfadministered questionnaire. To ensure an appropriate sample, the online questionnaire was also distributed in paper-based format. The results of the study indicated that the emerging market female consumer market has set ideas and preferences which appeal to them when purchasing work wear from department stores in South Africa. Certain product attributes were found to be more important than others while some were used in conjunction with other attributes. This combining of attributes helped to strengthen the importance of these attributes in the decision making process. The study adds value, knowledge and insight to the existing literature on consumer preferences in emerging markets and the apparel attributes that inform these preferences. This research will be useful for researchers as well as marketers who are interested in marketing campaigns, product assortment planning and retail settings. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--Universityof Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Smartphone adoption is occurring at an exponential rate with a user base far exceeding that of traditional mobile phones. Previous literature has identified various points of usage across demographics such as age, gender, income and nationality, however little of this is with regards to Smartphone attributes. Furthermore, generational change has provided a gravitational shift in the application of marketing techniques, as Generation-Y is a generation unlike any other, where traditional techniques are more hit and miss than targeted. A deeper understanding as to how antecedent decision-making is performed via the influence of Smartphone attributes upon Generation-Y’s choice of those phones is required. This research assists in the filling of these gaps by presenting findings in a holistic view of Generation-Y’s Smartphone attribute preferences as well as perceptions among South African business users. This paper seeks to add insight by unpacking the needs of the Generation that will soon be the largest consumer group in history - Generation-Y. Self Explicated Conjoint Analysis provides insights into attribute ranking and level of influence of specific attributes. Factor analysis extracts the salient factors of influence by Generation-Y consumers when choosing a Smartphone. Further to this, managerial implications, future work and limitations of this study for theory and practice are presented. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

<div> <div> <div> <p>This study investigates the expressive design attributes of souvenir design preferred by tourists by comparing and contrasting preferences and perceptions of tourists from two different cultural groups. The study used a conjoint design to allow respondents to rank their preferences of sampled souvenirs which represents various expressive design attributes of souvenirs. This study uses conjoint analysis to test the relationship between those expressive attributes and tourists’ perceived value and purchase intention. The results showed that the three expressive attributes, namely Makers’ Mark attribute, Iconofetish attribute, and Relational attribute impact American and Chinese tourists perceived values of souvenirs and purchase intentions. The part-worth utility score indicates that comparatively speaking, American tourists prefer souvenirs with a dominant makers’ mark and those that are connected to the local place or local people. On the other hand, Chinese tourists prefer souvenirs with a domestic iconofetish feature. This study highlights the relationship between the four perceived value – perceived functional value, perceived emotional value, perceived social value, and perceived novelty value – and the purchase intention, using Spearman’s correlation. These results contribute to the literature of souvenir design. The culturally based preferences between the US and Chinese tourists allow designers and retailers to create and design souvenirs based on their preferred expressive attributes. </p> </div> </div> </div>

Orientation: Organisations operating in multiple countries and continents, referred to as multinationals, often experience cultural barriers when interacting with employees from the host county. These barriers, in turn, frequently result in counterproductive outcomes for the organisation. Being able to adapt Human Resource (HR) policies and practices to the cultural values and norms of the host country, multinationals will be better able to attract, motivate and retain their host country employees and achieve the strategic objectives they have set. Research purpose: The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between an individual's reward preference and his/her cultural orientation by means of a novel methodological approach, while further investigating this relationship in two culturally distinct countries to allow for a comparison to be made. Motivation for the study: Research linking rewards to cultural orientation is characterised by mixed findings, which could be related to cross-cultural measurement issues (for example, issues of level of analysis and the reference-group effect). By measuring at an individual level of analysis and exploring the use of choice-based conjoint analysis, the present study aimed to advance the field of cross-cultural remuneration research. The study aimed to show that, by linking cultural orientation and reward preference, multinationals can be helped to optimize their remuneration policies and practices in a way that brings about desired organisational outcomes. Research design: A descriptive research design using quantitative methods was employed. Data was collected from employees in both South Africa (n = 132) and the Netherlands (n = 152). Survey items, responded to on a Likert-type response scale were used to measure an individual's reward preference and cultural orientation. To explore the potential bias introduced by the reference-group effect in cross-cultural reward research, a choice-based conjoint analysis was included to measure reward preference. Data from the field survey was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Choice-based conjoint analysis was used to determine the relative importance of each reward element. Main findings: The results of the Multiple Regression analysis revealed that certain cultural orientations were significantly positively related to reward preference. These included the relationship between collectivism and group bonuses; uncertainty avoidance and job security; uncertainty avoidance and base pay; and long-term orientation and future oriented rewards. Uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation were positively related to financiallyoriented reward elements. The conjoint analysis allowed for further differentiation between these elements. Practical implications: Multinationals will be able to better align their reward policies and practices with the preferences of employees who come from different cultures and who therefore possess differing cultural orientations. By doing so, multinationals will be able to improve their capability to attract, motivate and retain employees that come from distinct cultural backgrounds. Research contributions: By taking a different methodological approach using choice-based conjoint analysis, this study showed that the preference for particular reward packages can not be solely reduced to linear relationships. In contrast to previous studies, this study was able to incorporate a single sample for both the dependent and the independent variables by measuring the cultural orientations at an individual level of analysis.

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