This study was designed to identify the factors influencing the willingness to pay for agricultural information delivery technologies among the farmers in the Abahuzamugambi Coffee Growers Cooperative located in Butare, Rwanda. Three hundred and six farmers responded to a questionnaire that included questions about their demographic characteristics and accessibility to agricultural information technologies. Results were computed using the mean and standard deviation. T-tests and analysis of variance were conducted to determine the relationship between farmers?? demographic characteristics and their willingness to pay for selected agricultural information delivery technologies. Findings indicate that there was a correlation between farmers?? willingness to pay for agricultural information delivery technologies and some of their demographic characteristics. The farmer-to-farmer delivery technology was the most preferred as reflected by the amount of money that farmers were willing to pay for it compared to expert visits, print, radio, and television. Therefore, this technology was considered to be the most compatible with farmers?? needs in general.

Because the change of the society and the raise of consumption level, people value the quality of life more and more, and when they make decisions o products, the quality of products and the customer services all affect their decisions . This situation also extends to hospitality, not only delicate diet but also customer service plays on important role in the purchase willingness of consumers. Customer service not only includes attendants¡¦ spirits and attitude, but also the decoration of retail stores, the taste of food, and the dress of attendants. Raising the quality of service helps the company credibility and consumer promise, and people will purchase and recommend the product because of the company credibility, and customers will support the company because of the consumer promise even if there are other lower price rival commodities they sill still support the company. The present research focuses on the service quality of coffee chain stores in Kaohsiung and analyze if the credibility and consumer promise affect the purchase willingness or not. For the method of the present research, the first step is the sampling surveys, which are totally 236 surveys, and the questions of the survey are the quality of service, the credibility, consumer promise, and the participants¡¦ information. Then, I analyze the data and discuss how the credibility and consumer promise affect the participant¡¦s evaluations to the service quality and the willingness of repurchase. The results show a significant relation between service quality and the willingness of repurchase, and the credibility and consumer promise also affect the willingness of repurchase partially. At the end of the present research are the discussion and suggestions for the future research.

This study was designed to identify the factors influencing the willingness to pay for agricultural information delivery technologies among the farmers in the Abahuzamugambi Coffee Growers Cooperative located in Butare, Rwanda. Three hundred and six farmers responded to a questionnaire that included questions about their demographic characteristics and accessibility to agricultural information technologies. Results were computed using the mean and standard deviation. T-tests and analysis of variance were conducted to determine the relationship between farmers?? demographic characteristics and their willingness to pay for selected agricultural information delivery technologies. Findings indicate that there was a correlation between farmers?? willingness to pay for agricultural information delivery technologies and some of their demographic characteristics. The farmer-to-farmer delivery technology was the most preferred as reflected by the amount of money that farmers were willing to pay for it compared to expert visits, print, radio, and television. Therefore, this technology was considered to be the most compatible with farmers?? needs in general.

In 2006, 19 states had some type of route to alternative principal certification. An additional five states had either proposed or were considering offering alternative routes to principal certification (Education Commission of the States, 2006). These numbers indicate a nation-wide development and are worthy of investigation. In states across the country that have implemented alternative certification routes, the gatekeepers usually are directors of human resources who recruit, screen, rank, and forward applications to the superintendent. As a result, even though local districts may receive a green light from the state to hire alternatively certified principals; that approval does not guarantee they will be hired. To gain insight into the willingness of directors of human resources to support hiring alternatively certified principals, a two-stage study was conducted. First, 12 purposefully selected directors of human resources nationwide were interviewed. Second, data collected from the interviews in union with a review of the literature on alternative certification was used to identify domains, themes, and items to develop web mail questionnaires consisting of Thurstone and Likert scale statements. The web mail questionnaires were emailed to 689 directors of human resources selected from the directory of the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) on November 1, 2005. Principal components analysis was applied to reduce the number of overlapping variables. Multiple linear regression was the major statistical procedure used to determine relationships between the predictor variables and the willingness of directors of human resources to support hiring alternatively certified principals. Five of 20 predictor variables were found to be significant, with anticipated concerns by directors of human resources being the strongest predictor. Conditions of the individual (e.g., "right fit," leadership skills), being located in a primarily urban area, district experiencing a shortage in the quality of principals, and more willingness to support hiring alternatively certified assistant principals than principals were the other significant predictors. Candidates seeking employment in states that have alternate routes may experience a little resistance, but directors, on average, fell into the high neutral (more positive) position when it came to supporting hiring alternatively certified principals. / Ph. D.

This study analyzed preferences for wetland-loss prevention in coastal Louisiana. Data were obtained through a contingent-valuation mail survey of a random sample of Louisiana households. Results, based on 511 responses, indicate that respondents have a strong preference for a short-run program (72.41% chose this program over a long-run program or no action). Respondents that had higher incomes, were white, had prior knowledge of ongoing restoration efforts, and had confidence in government were more likely to support some program relative to no action, as were those citing hurricane, environmental, and/or climate-change protection as their primary concern. Older respondents and those with negative perceptions of climate change were more likely to prefer the short-run over the long-run program. Median net present value of willingness to pay (assuming 18.37% discount rate) was estimated at $17,491 per household for the multinomial logit model and $3,307 under the Turnbull lower-bound method.

No description available.

Non-profit organizations participating in social activities becomes more and more important, and NPOs compensate for the deviations and inadequate matters that the public sector and private sector are unable to provide. Therefore, whether in education and culture, arts, social welfare or community construction, NPOs will give assistance, and promote the development of civil society. However, some well-known NPOs have been created many scandals. The low operational efficiency and disadvantages of behaviors hit the public trust from the general public. Thus, this study explore whether the donors¡¦ approval of accountability would affect their donation willingness to NPOs. The study collected paper questionnaires 168 and 164 online questionnaires (a total of 308 valid questionnaires). The purposes of this study are: first, to explore the differences about the donors¡¦ demographic variables to the donors¡¦ approval of accountability . Second, to explore the correlation between the donors¡¦ approval of accountability and donation willingness. Third, to provide specific recommendations about the future direction of sustainable development to NPOs. The empirical results show : First, in the demographic variables, the donors¡¦ contribution purposes and education to the approval of accountability are significant different. Second, the correlation between the donors¡¦ approval of accountability and donation willingness is significantly positive. Third, the accountability acts of legal norms, performance evaluation, citizen participation, information disclosure and organizational goals are all significantly correlated to donation willingness. Compared with each dimension, ¡§information disclosure¡¨ is the most significantly correlated. Then, the study makes the following recommendations: First, continuingly accountable, in order to maintain the sustainability of NPOs. Second, maintain the transparency of the operation, and promote the self-discipline. Third, put different marketing plan to different donors. Forth, keep the spirit of the NPOs¡¦ principle and provide services that meet the current needs of the community.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Finally, this thesis also identifies the antecedents, moderators and mediators that affect the role of anticipated regret on purchase intention. The results of the experimental study indicate the gender effect that female consumers generate more anticipated regret than males when confronting with price discount promotions. The results of comparison analysis demonstrate the sequence effect that, the effect of anticipated regret on purchase intention is larger if consumers are asked to anticipate regret of not purchasing the promotional item before their final purchase decision rather than if they are asked in the reverse sequence. The analysis results on the relationship between perceived value and anticipated regret indicate that anticipated regret is the mediator in the effect of perceived value on purchase intention. / Fourth, this thesis then studies the effect of price discount frequency on consumers' behavioral response with focusing on the affective stage of consumers' response and proposes a model that simultaneously considers consumers' attitude and anticipated regret. The results of an experimental study demonstrate that price promotion frequency negatively affects consumers' anticipated regret and purchase intention, and that the effect of promotion frequency on consumers' purchase intention is fully mediated by consumers' attitude towards the purchasing behavior together with consumers' anticipated regret. / Second, this thesis examines the effect of price discount framing on consumers' response, and proposes a price-value model to account for the effect of price discount framing on consumers' purchase intention. Results of two experiments indicate that price discount framing affects consumers' purchase intention through the full mediation of perceived value. The framing of dollar-based discount leads to higher perceived value and higher purchase intention than the framing of percentage-based discount; however, these effects are moderated by the degree of discount calculation difficulty and the price level of the promotional products. / The findings of this thesis have both potentially important theoretical significance for a better understanding of price discount promotion and practical implications for directing marketers to more effectively design their price discount promotion schemes. The research limitations of this thesis and future research directions are also discussed. / Third, the thesis investigates the effect of price discount depths on consumers' behavioral response. Under the means-end framework, this thesis extends the price-value model by including anticipated regret and proposes an integrated model to account for the mechanism that underlies consumers' behavioral response towards price discount promotion. The results of a survey study indicate that the proposed integrated model fits the data well, and that consumers' purchase intention is better explained and predicted by including consumers' anticipated regret in the model. / This thesis investigates how price discount promotion affects consumers' purchase decision making process with emphasis on the role of consumers' anticipated regret. Specifically, this thesis examines how the three important characteristics of price discount promotion (i.e., discount framing, promotion depth, and promotion frequency) affect consumers' behavioral response. First, this thesis provides a comprehensive review for the research literature regarding how price promotion affects consumers' response, making an in-depth discussion of the concept of anticipated regret, and then empirically identifying the effects of promotion framing, promotion depth, and promotion frequency on consumers' behavioral response. / Hao, Liaogang. / Advisers: Jianmin Jia; Samart Powpaka. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-06, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-159). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.

Empirical literature indicated that marriage and family therapists are not comfortable discussing sexual topics with clients. The purpose of this cross-sectional correlational study was to examine the variables that may influence or predict a therapist's willingness to discuss sexual topics with clients. The research questions focused on understanding the predictive relationship between the independent variables of therapists' (a) attitudes, (b) knowledge, (c) training, (d) supervision experience, (e) clinical experience, (f) sex, (g) age, (h) strength of religion, (i) sexual orientation, (j) practice experience, (k) practice setting, and (l) graduate specialization, and the dependent variables of therapists' (a) willingness to discuss sexual topics with clients and (b) comfort discussing sexual topics with clients. Bowenian theory provided the framework for the study. Survey data were collected from 90 state-licensed marriage and family therapists in the United States. Findings from correlational and stepwise logistic regression analyses indicated that supervision experience was the strongest predictor of a therapist's willingness to discuss sexual topics with a client. The second strongest predictor was clinical experience. Therapists' attitudes and knowledge were not predictors of comfort or willingness to discuss sexual topics with clients. Increasing the number of clinical and supervisory opportunities for marriage and family therapists may increase their willingness to discuss sexual topics and may decrease the number of clients who cannot receive help, which may improve quality of life for therapists, clients, and their families.