The United States Environmental Protection Agency has used environmental information provision as a policy tool to take advantage of consumer preferences for products that meet higher environmental standards. Such environmental programs include a variety of policies ranging from eco-labeling programs to voluntary environmental agreements between governments and manufacturers. This study analyzes the effects of two such programs - the ENERGY STAR program, an eco-labeling program, and the Climate Leaders program, a voluntary environmental agreement program - on consumer preferences for a household appliance. The study estimates consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for the two programs and examines factors that motivate WTP. A particular interest for the ENERGY STAR program is in determining how the offer of a mail-in rebate affects these preferences. Data used for this study was collected from an online survey conducted in the United States during March and April, 2009. Conditional and random parameter logit models, with product attributes only and with demographic and other individual characteristics as interaction terms, are used to analyze the data. Findings from this study imply that consumers are willing to pay a premium equivalent to a significant portion of the purchase prices for the products approved by either program. Also, it is found that consumers who are more concerned about environmental issues, such as global climate change, and who have confidence in the effects of collective action, are more likely to engage in the purchase of such environmentally friendly products. These results should help government agencies and manufacturers evaluate the effectiveness of environmental information provision programs.

In recent years, the issues of energy dependency and renewable energy options have gained recognition with not only policy-makers but also mainstream consumers. Understanding consumer beliefs and preferences related to these issues is therefore relevant as innovative renewable energy markets have the potential to change conventional consumer purchasing decisions. This paper investigates the beliefs and behaviors of U.S. consumers related to E85 ethanol from corn and cellulosic feedstocks. Four distinct market segments are created so that the ethanol market can be investigated more in-depth. Overall familiarity with ethanol as an alternative fuel is high; however, individual segments vary on beliefs related to corn and cellulosic ethanol, purchasing Flex-Fuel Vehicles, general concern for the environment, and many other factors. In order to successfully market ethanol to a diverse market, the preferences, beliefs and behaviors of these four distinct segments should be taken into account. While environmental concern has waxed and waned over time, issues like as climate change have come to the forefront of both domestic and international discussion and policy. The role of greenhouse gas emissions in contributing to climate change has been acknowledged. As a major source of emissions, transportation fuels are an obvious source of potential reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This study segments consumers into four distinct market segments and uses a contingent choice method to determine willingness to pay for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through purchases of E85 ethanol blends. Overall, willingness to pay is estimated at about 0.18 cents per gallon for each percentage in emissions reductions when compared with gasoline containing no ethanol (E0). Willingness to pay for emissions reductions varies in significance and degree across the four market segments. The diversity between the four segments implies that marketing plans should take into account the heterogeneity of consumers and make efforts to account for their varied needs and preferences.

Concerns regarding energy security, resource sustainability, and environmental protection have heightened interests in renewable fuels and sparked the research and development of ethanol as a transportation fuel. This study examines consumers’ willingness to pay for ethanol from various potential feedstocks; corn, switchgrass and wood wastes. Data was collected via a survey of fuel consumers across the United States in 2009. Results show that consumers have a preference for E85 (a fuel blend with 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) from corn, switchgrass and wood wastes compared to E0 (gasoline) and a preference for E85 from switchgrass and wood wastes, but not corn when compared to E10 (10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline). Also, consumers have a preference for E85 compared to E10 but not compared to E0. Mean WTP for E85 was insignificant across all models, but significant for all other product attributes; percentage of fuel imported, percentage of greenhouse gas emissions reduced, and the proximity of fuel in driving distance. This suggests a WTP for a combination of fuel attributes associated with ethanol rather than just for E85. Results suggest that price and proximity of the fuel have a greater impact on fuel selection than percentage of the fuel imported and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans had a positive WTP for E85 compared to E10 and a negative WTP for E85 compared to E0 regardless of feedstock, which may suggest that Republicans actually have no preference for E85; however, these findings may also suggest that Republicans view E85 as a voluntary “policy” whereas E10 is an example of government intrusion in the free market. Thus, they may ultimately have preferences over the manner in which the blend is being introduced to the market. Across all models, those undecided in political affiliation, those previously familiar with ethanol, and those who prefer to devote U.S. farmland to food instead of fuel generally exhibited a lower WTP for E85 while Westerners, those worried about the environment, and those believe that reducing dependence on foreign oil is more important than environmental protection generally had a greater WTP for E85.

The growing importance of dogs in people’s lives and in high-density urban environments has increased demand for a place where people and their dogs can interact and exercise together. The recent increase in the number of dog parks across the country is evidence of these demands of dog owners and their companions. However, due to the absence of empirical study on dog parks and their attribute of non-market values, the benefits of dog parks are often underestimated and considered less in the decision making process regarding resource allocation. A post-occupancy evaluation at four dog parks was conducted to investigate use patterns of dog parks and user activities, to identify user preferences and the environmental factors influencing activities, to provide insights and guidelines in developing effective dog parks, and to estimate users’ willingness to pay for dog parks using contingent valuation method. A multiple-method approach was used to collect data including site observations and analysis, a questionnaire and behavioral mapping. The results indicated that dog parks received considerable use, served a variety of demographic groups and supported their exercise and social activities. Dog-park users were generally satisfied with dog parks but they expressed various preferences and needs. It is evident that dog parks are not only a place for dogs to exercise but a place for people to exercise, socialize, relax and enjoy greenery just like other parks. Proximity of dog parks was found to be a critical factor in encouraging frequent dog park use and satisfying users’ needs. Over eighty percent of survey respondents expressed that they were willing to pay an annual fee for dog parks, indicating the importance of visiting dog parks as outdoor recreation. Conservative estimate of average willingness to pay was $56.17/ household/ year. Satisfaction with maintenance and facilities, income, education and family size were found to be significantly associated with willingness to pay. These results could assist local governments and park planners in estimating aggregate monetary value of the dog parks and cost-benefit analysis to justify the development and maintenance of dog parks. Design guidelines and recommendations were generated based on the empirical findings for future design of dog parks.

Net pay (NP) and net-to-gross ratio (NGR) are often crucial quantities to characterize a reservoir and assess the amount of hydrocarbons in place. Numerous methods in the industry have been developed to evaluate NP and NGR, depending on the intended purposes. These methods usually involve the use of cut-off values of one or more surrogate variables to discriminate non-reservoir from reservoir rocks. This study investigates statistical issues related to the selection of such cut-off values by considering the specific case of using porosity () as the surrogate. Four methods are applied to permeability-porosity datasets to estimate porosity cut-off values. All the methods assume that a permeability cut-off value has been previously determined and each method is based on minimizing the prediction error when particular assumptions are satisfied. The results show that delineating NP and evaluating NGR require different porosity cut-off values. In the case where porosity and the logarithm of permeability are joint normally distributed, NP delineation requires the use of the Y-on-X regression line to estimate the optimal porosity cut-off while the reduced major axis (RMA) line provides the optimal porosity cut-off value to evaluate NGR. Alternatives to RMA and regression lines are also investigated, such as discriminant analysis and a data-oriented method using a probabilistic analysis of the porosity-permeability crossplots. Joint normal datasets are generated to test the ability of the methods to predict accurately the optimal porosity cut-off value for sampled sub datasets. These different methods have been compared to one another on the basis of the bias, standard error and robustness of the estimates. A set of field data has been used from the Travis Peak formation to test the performance of the methods. The conclusions of the study have been confirmed when applied to field data: as long as the initial assumptions concerning the distribution of data are verified, it is recommended to use the Y-on-X regression line to delineate NP while either the RMA line or discriminant analysis should be used for evaluating NGR. In the case where the assumptions on data distribution are not verified, the quadrant method should be used.

In the first chapter of this thesis, we investigate the impact of human capital and wage structure on the gender pay in a panel of European countries using a newly available and appropriate database for cross-country comparisons and a comparable methodology for each country. Our first question is : What role do certain individual characteristics and choices of working men and women play in shaping the cross-country differences in the gender pay gap? What is the exact size of the gender pay gap using the “more appropriate” database available for our purpose? Giving that there are mainly only two harmonized data-sets for comparing gender pay gap throughout Europe: the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) and the European Structure of Earning Survey (ESES). Each database having its shortages: the main weakness of the ECHP is the lack of perfect reliability of the data in general and of wages in particular. However the main advantage of this database is the panel-data dimension and the information on both households and individuals. The data of the ESES is, on the contrary, of a very high standard but it only covers the private sector and has a cross-sectional dimension. Furthermore only few countries are currently available : Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Ireland and Italy. We use the European Structure of Earning Survey (ESES) to analyse international differences in gender pay gaps in the private sector based on a sample of five European economies: Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Using different methods, we examine how wage structures, differences in the distribution of measured characteristics and occupational segregation contribute to and explain the pattern of international differences. Furthermore, we take account of the fact that indirect discrimination may influence female occupational distributions. We find these latter factors to have a significant impact on gender wage differentials. However, the magnitude of their effect varies across countries. In the second chapter, we analyse the persistence of the gender pay differentials over time in Europe and better test the productivity hypothesis by taking into account unobserved heterogeneity. Our second question is : What is the evolution of the pay differential between men and women over a period of time in Europe? And what is the impact of unobserved heterogeneity? The researcher here provides evidence on the effects of unobserved individual heterogeneity on estimated gender pay differentials. Using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), we present a cross-country comparison of the evolution of unadjusted and adjusted gender pay gaps using both cross-section and panel-data estimation techniques. The analysed countries differ greatly with respect to labour market legislation, bargaining practices structure of earnings and female employment rates. On adjusting for unobserved heterogeneity, we find a narrowed male-female pay differential, as well as significantly different rates of return on individual characteristics. In particularly, the adjusted wage differential decreases by 7 per cent in Belgium, 14 per cent in Ireland, between 20-30 per cent Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain and of 41 per cent and 54 per cent in the UK and in Denmark respectively. In the third chapter, we investigate causes of the gender pay gap beyond the gender differences in observed and unobserved productive characteristics or simply the sex. Explanations of the gender pay gap may be the penalty women face for having children. Obviously, the motherhood wage penalty is relevant to larger issues of gender inequality given that most women are mothers and that childrearing remains a women’s affair. Thus, any penalty associated with motherhood but not with fatherhood affects many women and as such contributes to gender inequalities as the gender pay gap. Furthermore, the motherhood wage effect may be different along the wage distribution as women with different earnings may not be equal in recognising opportunities to reconcile their mother’s and earner’s role. This brings us to our third question. Our third question is : What is the wage effect for mothers of young children in the household? And does it vary along the wage distribution of women? This chapter provides more insight into the effect of the presence of young children on women’s wages. We use individual data from the ECHP (1996-2001) and both a generalised linear model (GLM) and quantile regression (QR) techniques to estimate the wage penalty/bonus associated with the presence of children under the age of sixteen for mothers in ten EU Member States. We also correct for potential selection bias using the Heckman (1979) correction term in the GLM (at the mean) and a selectivity correction term in the quantile regressions. To distinguish between mothers according to their age at the time of their first birth, wage estimations are carried out, separately, for mothers who had their first child before the age of 25 (‘young mothers’) and mothers who had their first child after the age of 25 (‘old mothers’). Our results suggest that on average young mothers earn less than non-mothers while old mothers obtain a gross wage bonus in all countries. These wage differentials are mainly due to differences in human capital, occupational segregation and, to a lesser extent, sectoral segregation between mothers and non-mothers. This overall impact of labour market segregation, suggests a “crowding” explanation of the family pay gap – pay differential between mothers and non-mothers. Nevertheless, the fact that we still find significant family pay gaps in some countries after we control for all variables of our model suggests that we cannot reject the “taste-based” explanation of the family gap in these countries. Our analysis of the impact of family policies on the family pay gap across countries has shown that parental leave and childcare policies tend to decrease the pay differential between non-mothers and mothers. Cash and tax benefits, on the contrary, tend to widen this pay differential. Sample selection also affects the level of the mother pay gap at the mean and throughout the wage distribution in most countries. Furthermore, we find that in most countries inter-quantile differences in pay between mothers and non-mothers are mainly due to differences in human-capital. Differences in their occupational and sectoral segregation further shape these wage differentials along the wage distribution in the UK, Germany and Portugal in our sample of young mothers and in Spain in the sample of old mothers. In the fourth chapter, we analyse the combined effect of motherhood and the family status on women’s wage. Our fourth question is : Is there a lone motherhood pay gap in Europe? And does it vary along the wage distribution of mothers? Substantial research has been devoted to the analysis of poverty and income gaps between households of different types. The effects of family status on wages have been studied to a lesser extent. In this chapter, we present a selectivity corrected quantile regression model for the lone motherhood pay gap – the differential in hourly wage between lone mothers and those with partners. We used harmonized data from the European Community Household Panel and present results for a panel of European countries. We found evidence of lone motherhood penalties and bonuses. In our analysis, most countries presented higher wage disparities at the top of the wage distribution rather than at the bottom or at the mean. Our results suggest that cross-country differences in the lone motherhood pay gap are mainly due to differences in observed and unobserved characteristics between partnered mothers and lone mothers, differences in sample selection and presence of young children in the household. We also investigated other explanations for these differences such as the availability and level of childcare arrangements, the provision of gender-balanced leave and the level of child benefits and tax incentives. As expected, we have found significant positive relationship between the pay gap between lone and partnered mothers and the childcare, take-up and cash and tax benefits policies. Therefore improving these family policies would reduce the raw pay gap observed.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 1993

Background: All companies and organizations use some kind of management control. A reward system is an example of a management control system, which is used to accomplish congruence between the goals of the employees and the goals of the organization. It is also used in order to motivate the employees and to encourage them to stay within the organization. Today it is difficult for companies and organizations to create and maintain well-functioning reward systems. At many universities individual pay is used as a means of a control system in order to motivate the employees. The public sector has specific characteristics that complicate its pay systems. This affects universities since they are a part of the public sector. Purpose: The purpose is to investigate if the individual pay used at universities results in expected effects, that is, if it motivates professors in their work. The purpose is also to explain why professors are motivated/not motivated by individual pay. Research method: The material has been gathered by interviews with eight professors at the University of Linköping. Conclusion: It is difficult to use individual pay in order to motivate university professors in their work. Professors rather seem to be motivated by non-material rewards than by material such. In addition, individual pay systems can have defects that lessen the possibility of motivating professors. However, if professors have the tendency to be motivated

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<p>The term organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) was first explored by Bateman and Organ (1983) to refer to particular behaviours that may benefit an organisation and gestures that cannot be enforced by means of formal role obligations nor be elicited by contractual guarantee of recompense. Organ (1988) proposes that OCB may have a positive impact on employees and organisational performance. Incumbents who are experiencing satisfaction from performing their jobs are likely to be better ambassadors for the organisation and be committed to their organization (Buitendach, 2005). Silverthorne (2005, p. 171) considers job satisfaction to be important for effective organisations and defines job satisfaction as &ldquo / ... a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one&rsquo / s job&rdquo / . Previous research indicates that individuals are most likely to go beyond their formal job requirements when they are satisfied with their jobs or committed to their organisations, when they are given intrinsically satisfying tasks to complete, and/or when they have supportive or inspirational leaders. Research into Organisational Citizenship behaviour (OCB) has primarily focused on the effects of OCB on individual and organisational performance. Several empirical studies report that OCB produces various tangible benefits for employees, co-workers, supervisors and organisations in a variety of industries (Ackfeldt &amp / Leonard, 2005). It essentially refers to prosocial organisational behaviour that goes beyond what is expected in role descriptions. Bolino, Turnley and Niehoff (2004) claim that three basic assumptions have characterised OCB research. Firstly, they argue that OCB research stemmed from non-self-serving motives such as organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Moreover, they maintain that OCB has led to a more effective functioning of organisations and finally that OCB benefited employees by making organisations more attractive to work in. Murphy, Athansou and King (2002) reported positive relationships between OCB and job satisfaction. Chiu and Chen (2005) investigated the relationship between job characteristics and OCB and recommend that managers enhance employees&rsquo / intrinsic job satisfaction to promote the display of OCB. Most research studies have investigated OCB as an outcome variable with job satisfaction as one of its antecedents. Although the majority of researchers contend that OCB is an outcome of job satisfaction, some research indicates that the two variables can function as antecedents or consequences or there may well be a reciprocal relationship between the two variables. This study endeavours to elucidate the factors that are postulated to produce job satisfaction and organisational citizenship behaviour, based on a sample of 133 employees in a retail organisation in the Western Cape. The results indicate that there are significant relationships between biographical characteristics and job satisfaction, between the dimensions of OCB and job satisfaction and between the job satisfaction dimensions and OCB.</p>