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Much of our current understanding of how consumers shop for goods and services is based on cross-sectional analyses of end-of-trip variables (e.g., basket composition, total spending) that has largely assumed purchase behavior is constant over the course of a shopping trip, however research has begun to demonstrate how an initial purchase can influence a subsequent purchase decision. This suggests shopping behavior may not only vary throughout a shopping trip, but rather is specifically influenced by when a purchase decision occurs within a shopping trip. I build on this foundation through two essays that show how and why a consumer’s in-store purchasing behavior is influenced by both the decisions they have made and the decisions they anticipate to make later. The first essay demonstrates that a consumer’s relative spending— the price of an item, relative to the prices of the other items in the same product category—evolves nonlinearly over a single shopping trip, and this pattern is distinct for budget and nonbudget shoppers. The second essay examines whether and how encountering promotions in-store, but temporally in advance of the promoted product influences a consumer’s redemption decision. These findings suggest that shoppers’ decisions evolve of a single shopping trip as a function of the decisions and evaluations the have made earlier in the shopping trip, as well the decisions they still have left to make. In each essay, implications for researchers and practitioners are presented and opportunities for future research are discussed.

O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar uma descrição do processo de referenciação em uma narrativa contada em língua de sinais brasileira (libras), partindo da análise de como o sinalizador introduz e retoma as personagens da narrativa. A descrição é feita com base em trabalhos realizados no âmbito da linguística cognitiva, principalmente na proposta de van Hoek (1997) para a descrição da referenciação, e na proposta de Liddell (2003) para a análise da estrutura dos discursos sinalizados. As línguas sinalizadas, de modo geral e especificamente a libras ainda estão em fase inicial de descrição. A questão da referenciação, que diz respeito ao que está por trás do uso de certas formas de codificação dos referentes em determinados pontos do discurso, já foi amplamente discutida em trabalhos sobre línguas orais. Grande parte das análises, entretanto, tem se baseado na linearidade dessas línguas e, assim, a escolha das formas de codificação é explicada pela distância entre menções do referente. Esse tipo de abordagem, no entanto, não parece ser adequado para a análise de línguas sinalizadas, que são línguas de modalidade visual-gestual. Os discursos, nessas línguas, são organizados espacialmente e a referenciação está fortemente associada à organização do espaço de sinalização pelo sinalizador. O modelo de van Hoek, denominado modelo de pontos de referência, torna-se uma ferramenta interessante para a análise do processo de referenciação em línguas sinalizadas na medida em que se baseia em fatores de natureza cognitiva que não se prendem à linearidade do discurso. A autora propõe que alguns nominais funcionam como pontos de referência conceituais que criam domínios semânticos em que estão inseridos outros nominais. Os fatores que determinam a seleção e a extensão de um ponto de referência são, fundamentalmente, sua proeminência conceitual e sua conectividade conceitual. Para a descrição da estruturação da narrativa, foi utilizado o modelo de Liddell (2003) que, analisando a estrutura do discurso em língua de sinais americana (ASL), chamou a atenção para o papel fundamental que a espacialidade tem nos discursos sinalizados e para a importância de elementos gestuais para a construção dessa espacialidade. A descrição da referenciação neste trabalho é feita a partir de uma narrativa, intitulada O amor é surdo, contada por um surdo adulto fluente em libras. A narrativa foi filmada e transcrita de acordo com o modelo proposto em McCleary, Viotti & Leite (2010), sendo que algumas adaptações e mudanças foram feitas, no decorrer da transcrição, de modo a registrar mais adequadamente todos os detalhes de sinalização. 4 A partir da análise da narrativa, foram levantadas as seguintes formas utilizadas para a referência às personagens: i) sinais; ii) gestos de apontamento; iii) pantomimas e marcas corpóreas, como mudanças na posição do tronco, da cabeça, etc. O nível de elaboração das formas nominais varia de acordo com o grau de proeminência de seu referente. Além disso, foi mostrada a importância da organização espacial para a retomada das personagens ao longo da narrativa, substancialmente estabelecida através da gestualidade no início de cada episódio. / This thesis aims at presenting a description of the reference process in a narrative retold in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), starting with the analysis of how the signer introduces and refers back to the characters in the narrative studied. This description was based on works developed within the Cognitive Linguistics framework, mainly on van Hoek (1997), used for the description of reference, and Liddell (2003), for the analysis of signed discourses. Signed languages particulary Libras are rather understudied, so they are still in an initial description stage. Reference, which regards the use of certain forms for the coding of referents in specific points in the discourse, has already been widely discussed in works on spoken languages. However, most of these analyses have been based on the linearity of these languages and, as a consequence, they have explained the coding form choice in terms of the distance between the mentioning of a referent. This approach does not seem to be appropriate for signed languages, which, being gestural-visual languages, have their discourse spatially organized and their correference relations strongly associated with a signers organization of the signing space. Van Hoeks model, called the Reference Point Model, has proved to be an interesting tool for the analysis of the reference process in signed language, as it is based in cognitive factors that are independent from the linearity of the discourse. The author proposes that some nominals function as conceptual reference points that create semantic domains in which other nominals are embedded. The factors that determine the selection and extension of a point of reference are, crucially, relative conceptual prominence and connectivity. For the description of the narrative structure, Liddell (2003)s model was used. This model, developed on the basis of the analysis of American Sign Language (ASL), highlights the role of spatiality in signed discourses, as well as the importance of gestural elements in the construction of this spatiality. The reference description in this work is made through the analysis of a narrative, called Love is deaf, retold by an adult deaf person, fluent in Libras. This narrative was filmed and transcribed following the model proposed in McCleary, Viotti & Leite (2010). Additional adaptations and changes, however, were made in order to capture more adequately the details that were relevant for the purposes of analysis presented here. The use of the following forms to make reference to the characters have been observed: (i) signs; (ii) pointing gestures; and (iii) pantomimes and gestural marks, such as shifts in the position of the torso, head, etc. The elaboration level of nominal forms varies 6 according to the prominence degree of its referent. This analysis reinforces the importance of the spatial organization for reference to characters throughout the narrative, substantially established by the use of gestures in the beginning of each episode.

O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar uma descrição do processo de referenciação em uma narrativa contada em língua de sinais brasileira (libras), partindo da análise de como o sinalizador introduz e retoma as personagens da narrativa. A descrição é feita com base em trabalhos realizados no âmbito da linguística cognitiva, principalmente na proposta de van Hoek (1997) para a descrição da referenciação, e na proposta de Liddell (2003) para a análise da estrutura dos discursos sinalizados. As línguas sinalizadas, de modo geral e especificamente a libras ainda estão em fase inicial de descrição. A questão da referenciação, que diz respeito ao que está por trás do uso de certas formas de codificação dos referentes em determinados pontos do discurso, já foi amplamente discutida em trabalhos sobre línguas orais. Grande parte das análises, entretanto, tem se baseado na linearidade dessas línguas e, assim, a escolha das formas de codificação é explicada pela distância entre menções do referente. Esse tipo de abordagem, no entanto, não parece ser adequado para a análise de línguas sinalizadas, que são línguas de modalidade visual-gestual. Os discursos, nessas línguas, são organizados espacialmente e a referenciação está fortemente associada à organização do espaço de sinalização pelo sinalizador. O modelo de van Hoek, denominado modelo de pontos de referência, torna-se uma ferramenta interessante para a análise do processo de referenciação em línguas sinalizadas na medida em que se baseia em fatores de natureza cognitiva que não se prendem à linearidade do discurso. A autora propõe que alguns nominais funcionam como pontos de referência conceituais que criam domínios semânticos em que estão inseridos outros nominais. Os fatores que determinam a seleção e a extensão de um ponto de referência são, fundamentalmente, sua proeminência conceitual e sua conectividade conceitual. Para a descrição da estruturação da narrativa, foi utilizado o modelo de Liddell (2003) que, analisando a estrutura do discurso em língua de sinais americana (ASL), chamou a atenção para o papel fundamental que a espacialidade tem nos discursos sinalizados e para a importância de elementos gestuais para a construção dessa espacialidade. A descrição da referenciação neste trabalho é feita a partir de uma narrativa, intitulada O amor é surdo, contada por um surdo adulto fluente em libras. A narrativa foi filmada e transcrita de acordo com o modelo proposto em McCleary, Viotti & Leite (2010), sendo que algumas adaptações e mudanças foram feitas, no decorrer da transcrição, de modo a registrar mais adequadamente todos os detalhes de sinalização. 4 A partir da análise da narrativa, foram levantadas as seguintes formas utilizadas para a referência às personagens: i) sinais; ii) gestos de apontamento; iii) pantomimas e marcas corpóreas, como mudanças na posição do tronco, da cabeça, etc. O nível de elaboração das formas nominais varia de acordo com o grau de proeminência de seu referente. Além disso, foi mostrada a importância da organização espacial para a retomada das personagens ao longo da narrativa, substancialmente estabelecida através da gestualidade no início de cada episódio. / This thesis aims at presenting a description of the reference process in a narrative retold in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), starting with the analysis of how the signer introduces and refers back to the characters in the narrative studied. This description was based on works developed within the Cognitive Linguistics framework, mainly on van Hoek (1997), used for the description of reference, and Liddell (2003), for the analysis of signed discourses. Signed languages particulary Libras are rather understudied, so they are still in an initial description stage. Reference, which regards the use of certain forms for the coding of referents in specific points in the discourse, has already been widely discussed in works on spoken languages. However, most of these analyses have been based on the linearity of these languages and, as a consequence, they have explained the coding form choice in terms of the distance between the mentioning of a referent. This approach does not seem to be appropriate for signed languages, which, being gestural-visual languages, have their discourse spatially organized and their correference relations strongly associated with a signers organization of the signing space. Van Hoeks model, called the Reference Point Model, has proved to be an interesting tool for the analysis of the reference process in signed language, as it is based in cognitive factors that are independent from the linearity of the discourse. The author proposes that some nominals function as conceptual reference points that create semantic domains in which other nominals are embedded. The factors that determine the selection and extension of a point of reference are, crucially, relative conceptual prominence and connectivity. For the description of the narrative structure, Liddell (2003)s model was used. This model, developed on the basis of the analysis of American Sign Language (ASL), highlights the role of spatiality in signed discourses, as well as the importance of gestural elements in the construction of this spatiality. The reference description in this work is made through the analysis of a narrative, called Love is deaf, retold by an adult deaf person, fluent in Libras. This narrative was filmed and transcribed following the model proposed in McCleary, Viotti & Leite (2010). Additional adaptations and changes, however, were made in order to capture more adequately the details that were relevant for the purposes of analysis presented here. The use of the following forms to make reference to the characters have been observed: (i) signs; (ii) pointing gestures; and (iii) pantomimes and gestural marks, such as shifts in the position of the torso, head, etc. The elaboration level of nominal forms varies 6 according to the prominence degree of its referent. This analysis reinforces the importance of the spatial organization for reference to characters throughout the narrative, substantially established by the use of gestures in the beginning of each episode.

This study examines whether reference levels change over time and the impact on individuals' risk-taking behavior. I apply expectations-based reference-dependent preferences theory to analyze whether individuals' reference levels change over time in an economic setting. The theory suggests that individuals develop reference levels based on expectations of future outcomes (Koszegi and Rabin 2006). Therefore, this study examines whether individuals' expectations affect the setting of their reference level and how possible changes in reference levels affect subsequent risk-taking behavior. This study also provides evidence on how budget-based contracts impact individual risk taking behavior in a single period setting. Prior research has used multiple theories in an attempt to explain contradictory results relating to budget target difficulty and risk-taking behaviors. This study provides more evidence to the literature by further examining the impact of budget-based contracts on individuals' risk-taking behavior. A 1 x 2 between subjects experiment was conducted over five periods. Budget target was the manipulated factor at two levels: easy and moderate. Results suggest that individuals under easy budget targets make riskier decisions. Additionally, individuals' reference levels change over time and the change in reference level is greater for those individuals who continually attain their budget target, suggesting that expectations do increase the reference level. Lastly, in the current study, changes in reference level do not have a significant impact on risky decision making.

L’Aide Multicritère à la Décision (AMCD) vise à aider un décideur (DM) confronté à un problème de décision impliquant plusieurs objectifs contradictoires. Les préférences du DM jouent un rôle important au sein du processus d'aide à la décision, puisque les recommandations ne sont pertinentes et acceptables que si le système de valeurs du DM est pris en considération. Un outil d'élicitation des préférences est donc nécessaire pour aider l'analyste à intégrer les préférences du DM de façon appropriée dans les modèles de décision. Nous sommes intéressés par le développement d’outils d'élicitation des préférences pour deux modèles d'agrégation basés sur des points de référence à savoir Electre Tri et une méthode de Rangement basé sur des Points de Référence multiples (RPM). Tout d'abord, nous considérons Electre Tri en utilisant la règle d’affectation optimiste. Nous proposons un outil d'élicitation des préférences, qui infère les paramètres de préférence de ce modèle à partir d’exemples d’affectation du DM, et analyse également la robustesse des affectations résultant de la nature imprécise de l'information préférentiel. En second lieu, un outil d'élicitation des préférences est développé pour le problème de sélection de portefeuille formulée comme des problèmes de tri contraint en utilisant Electre Tri. Les préférences du DM à la fois au niveau individuel et au niveau du portefeuille sont considérés pour infère le modèle Electre Tri. Le modèle élicité évalue intrinsèquement les individus et sélectionne simultanément un portefeuille satisfaisant comme un groupe. Troisièmement, nous nous intéressons à l’élicitation des préférences pour le modèle RPM, qui détermine un pré-ordre comparant des alternatives avec des points de référence. Nous proposons un outil qui infère un modèle RPM parcimonieux à partir de comparaisons par paires du DM. Enfin, trois web services implémentent des outils d'élicitation des préférences pour Electre Tri et ont été intégrées au logiciel de Decision Deck. Les outils d’élicitation des préférences proposés consistent en des algorithmes qui résolvent des programmes linéaires en nombres mixtes. Des expériences numériques approfondies ont été réalisées pour étudier la performance et le comportement des outils d'élicitation proposées. Ces expériences éclairent sur l’applicabilité pratique de ces outils. De plus, les outils ont été appliqués avec succès à trois cas. / Multiple Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) aims at supporting decision makers (DM) facing decisions involving several conflicting objectives. DM's preferences play a key role in the decision aiding process, since the recommendations are meaningful and acceptable only if the DM's values are taken into consideration. A preference elicitation tool is therefore necessary to help the analyst to incorporate appropriately the DM's preferences in the decision models. We are interested in developing preference elicitation tools for two aggregation models based on reference points, namely Electre Tri and a new Ranking method based on Multiple reference Points (RMP). Firstly, we consider Electre Tri using the optimistic assignment rule. We propose a preference elicitation tool which elicits the preference parameters of the model from assignment examples provided by the DM, and also analyzes the robustness of the assignments related to the imprecise nature of the preference information. Secondly, a preference elicitation tool is developed for portfolio selection problems. These problems are formulated as constrained sorting problems using Electre Tri. The DM's preferences both at the individual and portfolio level are considered to elicit the Electre Tri model. The elicited model evaluates intrinsically the individuals and simultaneously selects a satisfactory portfolio as a group. Thirdly, we are interested in preference elicitation for RMP model, which determines a weak order by comparing alternatives with reference points. A preference elicitation tool is provided which infers a parsimonious RMP model from the DM's pairwise comparisons. Lastly, three web services implementing the preference elicitation tools for Electre Tri have been developed and integrated to Decision Deck software. The proposed preference elicitation tools consist of algorithms solving mixed integer programs. Extensive numerical experiments have been performed to study the performance and behavior of the proposed elicitation tools to give insights into their applicability in practice. Moreover, the tools have been successfully applied to three real-world cases.

In virtually every buying decision, consumers must make tradeoffs among levels of product attributes. One of the most frequent kinds of tradeoffs is that between price and quality. This research investigates the effects of two controllable variables on price quality trade offs; the price/quality order in which alternatives are presented and whether alternatives outside the range of buyer expectations (outliers) are presented. The level of the final reference point is suggested to mediate order and outliers effects on the dependent variables of evaluation, search length, price-quality choice, and satisfaction. In addition, the effects of order and outliers on buyer-seller relationship quality are examined. A measurement problem precluded determination of final reference point as a mediating variable, but the other effects were as predicted by final reference points. Presenting alternatives in a descending order of price and quality resulted in less search than an ascending order. Primacy effects were evident as the descending order also resulted in choices of higher price and quality than both ascending and random orders. Moderate outliers also resulted in higher price-quality choices than either no outliers or extreme outliers, but only when presented in a descending order. There were no significant effects on evaluation of alternatives. Perceptions of buyer-seller relationship were better when alternatives were presented in an ascending order as compared to a descending order, but were not affected by presenting outliers. Buyer’s satisfaction was lower when an extreme outlier was included in choice set presented in an ascending order. / Ph. D.

Virtual Reality has until now seen limited actual use in society other than in the gaming industry. A reason for this could be its exclusively individual-viewpoint based nature and a lack of possible collaborative experiences together with people with no VR equipment. This study has investigated how joint visual reference points might help a VR and a non-VR user collaborate with each other using a repeated measures design with three conditions. In the experiment, where one user was equipped with a HTC Vive and the other stood in front of a large screen, the pair was presented 0, 4 or 9 joint visual reference points from their own viewpoint. Results of the tasks performed by the participants indicates that 9 joint visual reference points increased a pair’s collaboration efficiency. However, the effect was not present once joint attention had been fully established. Furthermore, non-VR users found it significantly harder giving instructions to the other user when there were no joint visual reference points available while the VR-users did not find it significantly harder to do so. Additionally, differences between VR users’ and non-VR users’ spatial orientation ability were found to predict different patterns over the three conditions. Judging from the results, it seems that for the VR-users, 4 reference points helped more than 0 and 9 helped more than 4. However, an interaction effect was found on the non-VR users between spatial orientation ability and visual reference points condition. 4 reference points had a counter-productive effect on task efficiency for the non-VR users with lower spatial orientation ability while 4 reference points did seem to help the higher spatial ability group. 9 joint visual reference points completely eliminated group differences between high and low spatial orientation ability groups for both VR users and non-VR users.

L’inférence du modèle de préférence à partir des jugements préférentiels fournis par le décideur, Élicitation des Préférences (EP), est fondamentale au sein de l’Aide Multicritère à la Décision (AMCD), car l’élaboration des recommandations à la fois plausibles, constructives et convaincantes requiert que l’analyste construise un modèle de préférence qui rende compte fidèlement du jugement du décideur. Cependant, l’EP est une mission délicate, parce qu’il s’agit d’attribuer des valeurs aux paramètres du modèle de préférence choisi. Dans ce cadre, plusieurs aspects sont étudiés. Puisque les modèles de préférence étant de plus en plus complexes, on fait alors appel à des algorithmes sophistiqués, et il faut d’autant plus tenir compte de l’aspect computationnel.Ce travail de thèse vise à concevoir des algorithmes afin d’inférer du modèle de préférence à partir des comparaisons par paire (possiblement incohérentes), et de considérer des données de (relativement) grande taille. En particulier, nous nous sommes intéressés à un modèle de rangement multicritère récemment proposé et faisant appel à un certain nombre de points de référence. Ce modèle fait référence à la méthode intitulée “Ranking with Multiple Profiles” (RMP). Plus précisément, nous considérons une version particulière, dite S-RMP. Nos contributions sont divisées en trois parties. Du point de vue théorique, nous nous adressons sur (1) l’interprètabilité des points de référence et (2) la discriminabilité du modèle S-RMP. En termes d’algorithmes, nous présentons, d’abord, (3) un nouveau programme linéaire pour inférer du modèle S-RMP en tenant compte les incohérences et (4) une version robuste améliorée; en outre, (5) une métaheuristique qui procède avec des données massives. (6) Nous menons alors les analyses numériques. (7) Le développement de deux services web est également inclus. En termes d’application, (8) nous présentons une étude de cas. / The inference of preference model from holistic statements provided by the decision maker (DM), namely, Preference Elicitation (PE), is fundamental to Multi-Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA). In order to conduct plausible, constructive and convincing recommendations, the decision analyst should always take the DM’s preference system into account. However, PE might be tricky, as it involves setting appropriately a series of parameter values of the considered model. Various aspects should be considered. Since the preference models are becoming more and more complicated, PE usually relies on sophisticated algorithms, whereas this brings additionally the computational aspect into consideration.This PhD thesis aims at developing new elicitation algorithms dealing with (possibly inconsistent) pairwise comparisons and processing with (relatively) large input datasets. In particular, a recently introduced multi-criteria ranking method making use of a certain number of reference points is considered. It is known as RMP method as abbreviated for Ranking with Multiple reference Points. More specifically, we are interested in one of its Simplified version, namely S-RMP method. Our contributions are divided into three parts. From the theoretical perspective, we are concerned about (1) the interpretation of reference points in such models and (2) the discriminability of S-RMP model. From the algorithmic perspective, we propose firstly (3) a new linear programming formulation for eliciting S-RMP models from inconsistent pairwise comparisons and also (4) an improved robust elicitation algorithm; besides, (5) a metaheuristic for learning S-RMP models from massive data. (6) Numerical analyses are then performed. (7) The development of two web services is also included. From the practical perspective, (8) we present a realistic case study.

In modern conditions of aggressive competitive environment there has been a steady increase of uncertainty, instability and high dynamics of economic activity. Under these conditions, it becomes extremely important for small businesses to adapt to changing factors of external and internal environment, where resources are scarce. Thus the problem of strategic management and control at small industrial enterprises is one of the most important. To resolve this issue in the thesis presents an approach to strategic controlling main purpose of which is development of methodological recommendations for formalization and control of strategic reference points taken by management. / В современных условиях агрессивной конкурентной среды наблюдается постоянное возрастание степени неопределенности, нестабильности и высокой динамичности хозяйственной деятельности. В данных условиях становится чрезвычайно важным способность малого бизнеса приспосабливаться под изменяющиеся факторы как внешней, так и внутренней среды, в условиях дефицита ресурсов. Таким образом, к актуальным проблемам развития малых предприятий необходимо отнести стратегическое управление и контроль. Для решения данного вопроса в диссертации представлен подход к стратегическому контроллингу, главной целью которого является предоставление руководителям методологических рекомендаций с целью формализации и контроля их стратегических ориентиров.