I present behavioural data contributing to existing research that (implicit) self-predictions are overly reliant on current intentions at the time of the decision (Koehler & Poon, 2006). Results are consistent with previous findings that self-predictions are often insensitive to translatability cues and overly influenced by desirability cues. We show that although participants typically benefit from a reminder, it is undervalued at the time of the decision (Experiment 1 & 3a) as participants are not willing to pay for a reminder service, unless it is offered free of charge (Experiment 2). Our findings also show that participants fail to incorporate temporal delay sufficiently in their opt-in decisions, even though temporal delay was found to be a significant predictor return behaviour (Experiments 1, 2 & 3b). Instead, decisions were found to be highly influenced by desirability factors (Experiments 1 & 2) which were not significant predictors of task completion. Finally, using a construal manipulation intended to induce participants to think about the decision options in either a concrete or abstract way influenced decisions (Experiment 3a), and subsequently influenced how much participants benefitted from the reminder in task completion (Experiment 3b).

This study examined the intentions of a group of individuals who created the sitcom Aliens in America broadcast on the CW Network in 2007-2008 and the ways in which three separate groups (bloggers, TV critics and local television viewers) perceived the show. In doing so I attempted to uncover the pedagogical implications of these intentions and perceptions for visual culture studies. I used a qualitative approach to conduct this study. I gathered interviews the creators of the show gave to media outlets in 2007 and 2008. I also gathered data from three other distinct groups for this study. First, I conducted focus group interviews with 13 individuals who watched and discussed their perceptions of Aliens in America. Second, I surveyed the perceptions of bloggers through a narrative analysis of postings published on the CW network website in 2007-2008. Thirdly, I sampled reviews of the show by TV critics to learn about their perceptions of the show. This study uncovered three key findings. First, the existence of a gap or disconnect between the ways in which the show was intended by its creators and how it was perceived by selected audiences. The second major finding was the unexpected level of engagement with the show exhibited by bloggers and focus group participants and their deep connection with some of the characters. The third finding involved the use of audio cues in some episodes of the series and its possible influence on viewers to react in a certain way to specific situations. These findings have specific implications for visual culture studies. First, the show presents an immense potential for use with seasoned educators during workshops. Second, these findings indicate that the use of audio cues in TV shows is problematic for younger audiences and requires more media literacy to take place in the art education classroom. Third, teacher education programs could use the show to train pre-service teachers and help them relate to the type of television programming their students are engaging with on a daily basis.

Abstract The origin of Human Resource is education. In terms of marketing, the purpose of this study is to understand the main sources of information and influence as well as the priority of factors on the future intentions and determinations of junior high school students in the target market. Besides, Discussed and understood by way of Market Segmentation Analysis Technology, various sorts of students¡¦ characteristics affect on the recruitment on senior high and vocational high school students. Followed by the above analyses, there are some suggestions are concluded to the options of goals, the main focus of strategies and the plan of related activities on student recruitment, ought to think how to develop their own characteristics. Through the analyses of Market Segmentation, the priority of school types, the sources of information and influence, the outcomes are concluded to suggest the goals to recruit senior high school students will be focused on students which are Cluster 3 (ideal-approached), Cluster 1 (career-approached), living in the neighborhood of business areas, and whose the educational levels of parents are ranged above college; moreover, the grades of students are ranged within top 10 will have the priorities. As to the deliveries of information, family or relatives will be the first and best choice. Then, by way of the DM of senior high and vocational high schools, teachers and classmates will be in junior high school. Except for students themselves, those who are influential will be mother, and then father will comes after mother. Meanwhile, it is important to emphasize consultancy on future career, the distance from school, the peer quality, the ranges of Joint Entrance Exams for years and the faculty. The goals to recruit vocational high school students will be as follows: students who belong to Cluster 1, Cluster 3, who live in industrial or port areas, whose parents only received education below junior high school with mid-low payment and the students will be ranged after 21 in their class. As to the deliveries of information, family or relatives will be the first and best choice. Then, by way of the DM of senior high/vocational high schools, teachers and classmates in junior high school. Except for students themselves, those who are influential will be mother, father and then classmates. Meanwhile, it is important to emphasize consultancy on future career (consultancy on further study), the distance from school, the convenience of living, the ranges of Joint Entrance Exams for years and the percentages of further study to gradated students. The goals to recruit complex type of senior high school students will be as follows: students who live in industrial or port areas, whose parents finished senior/vocational high school education with mid-low payment and the students will be ranged within 11 to 20 in their class. As to the deliveries of information, family or relatives will be the first and best choice. Then, by way of the DM of senior high/vocational high schools, teachers from senior/vocational high schools, their own junior high school teachers. Except for students themselves, those who are influential will be mother, and then father will comes after mother. Meanwhile, it is important to emphasize consultancy on future career, the distance from school, the peer quality, the ranges of Joint Entrance Exams for years.

As health care services get more competitive, the health care practitioners and academic researchers are increasingly interested in exploring how patients perceive their care quality and value, form their satisfaction levels and generate their behavioral intentions. Outpatient services provide an alternate setting for patients to have initial contact with health care providers. Besides, two-thirds of Taiwan¡¦s total NHI expenditure is spent on outpatient services. Thus, it is of great significance to note outpatients¡¦ perceptions of health care services. Drawing from marketing literature, perceived value can be viewed as the consequence of service quality and as the antecedent role of satisfaction and behavioral intentions. This study conducted empirical test an integrative model of customers¡¦ perceptions of outpatient services based on the established relationships among four key constructs (service quality, perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intentions). First, this study conducted focus group discussion to identify the factors of quality of outpatient services as follows: (1) the personal interaction between medical staff and patients, (2) the assurance from medical staff, (3) the speed of timely access to a service, and (4) tangible aspect. Later, structural equation model was used to examine the research model which addresses the hypothesized relationships among the four constructs of interest in the health care industry. The main findings are summarized as follows: (1) perceive value had a greater direct influence on behavioral intentions than did service quality and patient satisfaction; (2) service quality had both an indirect effect (through perceived value and satisfaction) and a direct influence on behavioral intentions; and (3) both service quality and value are antecedents of patient satisfaction; the most important determinant of patient satisfaction is quality of health care. Finally, this dissertation ends with a discussion of the results and implications for the managerial practices, followed by suggestions for future research.

Pine and Gilmorey (1998) declared a welcome message for all to the age of experience economy. Economic value has evolved from primary products, manufactured products and services into the fourth kind of economic products: experience. Service oriented economy cannot satisfy consumers anymore, along with the commercialization of services, experience has became the core of economics, thus the era of experience economy arrives. Taiwan has the highest density of department stores and shopping malls. Shopping malls combines retailing, services and entertainment, yet no significant differences in images perceived by the market are found in comparison with department stores in Taiwan. Consumers cannot distinguish between shopping malls and department stores, thus poses a great challenge for shopping malls. They would have to reconsider positioning and marketing strategies of their own. Thus this research aims at understands could experience marketing be effective in the realm of shopping malls in the age of experience economy. This thesis serves Dream-Mall as the study case and experience value as the intervening variable in order to understand would customer experiences formed in the malls via experience marketing efforts be sufficient in affecting customers¡¦ behavior intentions. Conclusions are as follows: dimensions of experience marketing are significantly positively related with experience values, as well as with intentions of customers¡¦ behaviors.

Authors: Malin Karlsson, Sandra Karlsson, Amanda Malmberg Tutor: Dr. Setayesh Sattari Examiner: Prof. Anders Pehrsson Background: Consumers increasingly purchase products online due to the widespread use of the Internet. The decision for consumers to purchase online is predicted by their purchase intentions, which in turn is affected by their information privacy concerns. There is a lack of research on IPC and purchase intentions in the context of online personalized advertising. Purpose: To extend the understanding of purchase intentions considering information privacy concerns and involvement in the context of online personalized advertising. Methodology: A survey in form of a questionnaire was conducted in order to gather the information necessary to be able to analyse the relationship between IPC and purchase intentions in the context of online personalized advertising. The sample consists of 18-70 year olds from cities in southern Sweden. Conclusion: Conclusions drawn in this thesis is that when applied in the context of online personalized advertising, there is no significant relationship between IPC and purchase intentions. However, involvement is suggested as having a positive relationship to purchase intentions, as well as a positive moderating effect on the relationship between IPC and purchase intention in the context of online personalized advertising. Keywords: Purchase intentions, Information privacy concerns (IPC), Online personalized advertising, Involvement.

Many countries in Europe have experienced fertility below replacement level for a long period of time. Population ageing and difficulties in sustaining current living standards follow low fertility levels. To be able to increase fertility levels it is necessary to give women and men in Europe opportunities to fulfil their desired life, with or without children. Work-family reconciliation policies can either prevent people from or allow them to combine a career and a family. To what extent these policies have an influence on short-term childbearing intentions in Poland and Sweden is the focus of this study. Using data from the Gender and Generation Survey, the results show that women in Poland are more likely to intend to have a first child within the next three years than are women in Sweden, despite less favourable work-family reconciliation policies, while childless men in Poland are less likely to intend to have a child in the near future than are men in Sweden. It also shows that the attitudes towards parental leave policies have an effect on first childbearing intentions, but that attitudes towards childcare systems play a minor role when intending to become a parent or not in the near future. Common to the work-family reconciliation policies is that the attitudes towards them are contextually embedded.

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is a useful model for understanding social-cognitive determinants (i.e. attitude, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control) of sexual risk reduction among adolescents. However, research using the TPB has emphasized main effects and has not considered the possibility of moderated associations. In addition to testing main effects, this study assessed the interactions between TPB constructs and investigated the influence of previous sexual experience when predicting adolescents’ intentions to use condoms and delay sexual activity. Results indicate that the TPB functions differently depending on previous sexual experience and type of risk reduction behavior. Perceived norms were the only consistent predictor of intentions for condom use and delay. Attitude moderated perceived behavioral control when predicting condom use intentions among sexually experienced youth. However, no other interaction effects were detected. Future directions for research and implications for practice are discussed.

Feeling connected to one’s community has been associated with increased self-rated health and well-being. Connectivity has also been linked to health behaviours such as smoking and obesity, which have been related to overall health status. Physical activity is related to overall health status as it protects against many chronic diseases. Unfortunately, less than 50% of Canadian adults are meeting the physical activity requirements set out by Canada’s Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Living. Thus, this study determines whether sense of connectedness is associated with current participation in leisure-time physical activity and intention to start or increase engagement in physical activity. Cross-sectional data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) cycle 3.1 was used to analyze the association between sense of community belonging and physical activity among Canadians aged 25 to 64. A series of logistic regression models were used to analyze the data. People reporting a stronger sense of connectedness had greater odds of being physically active with income, education and sex often moderating the relationship. It appeared that the relative odds of being physically active were greatest among people who felt very strongly connected to their communities and in the highest socioeconomic groups. Further, feeling more that very weakly connected to the community increased the odds of intending to start or increase physical activity among inactive females and decreased the odds of intending to increase physical activity among moderately active males. This study provides preliminary results regarding how important social factors may alter population level physical activity. The results from this study inform our understanding of barriers and facilitators associated with physical activity and how policies and conditions which affect community connectedness may be used to enhance physical activity.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of combining implementation intentions (II) and regulatory fit in the context of two important health goals: increasing leisure time physical activity and decreasing leisure time sedentary behaviour. Implementation intentions specify exactly how, when, and where a behaviour will occur and can be an effective method of increasing goal enactment. Regulatory fit occurs when a goal or strategy used to achieve the goal matches an individual’s regulatory orientation. University students (N = 180) were randomly assigned to a goal (increase activity/decrease screen time) and an experimental condition (II/non-II). Participants formed a goal to increase their physical activity or decrease their screen time over the following four weeks according to their random assignment. Participants’ commitment to their goal was monitored over the course of the study. The II group also formed a detailed plan regarding how they would accomplish their goal. Regulatory fit was determined based on group assignment and score on the regulatory focus questionnaire. Physical activity and screen time were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Follow-up occurred online four weeks after baseline. Data were analyzed separately by goal type using linear regressions to examine the effects of regulatory fit, experimental condition, and goal commitment on the behaviour variables. The regulatory fit manipulation was not successful. Among those with the physical activity goal, no significant effects emerged for the experimental variables. Among those with the screen time goal and in the fit, II group, stronger goal commitment tended to be associated with increased participation in moderate physical activity, β = .17, t(22) = .94, p = .36. Also, participants who set II for the screen time goal and were committed to this goal tended to report less screen time than participants with lower goal commitment (β = -.40, t(69) = -2.05, p = .05). Findings provide preliminary insight into the effectiveness of II and the importance of goal commitment in interventions aiming to reduce sedentary behaviour. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-07-02 11:32:18.716