¡§Internet¡¨ not only change our life, also increase a source for information searching before we make decision. However, the quantity of information provided from internet surpass the capability of human. The purposes of the study were to discuss how consumers search information in internet, and how consumer information search behavior be different because of internet. Among all industry in Taiwan, tourism is the best industry in applying e-commence. Further, 95 percent people in Taiwan are backpackers, so backpacker is a trend of people traveling in Taiwan. As a result, the study choose backpacker as subject to observe consumer information search behavior in internet. The study follows Schmidt & Spreng¡¦s model which indicate that perceived risk, perceived benefit, and search ability are variables of information search behavior. Besides, personal character is also a variable of internet information search behavior. According to an on-lined survey at 2003 with 1931 valid samples, 4 factors of internet perceived benefits were extracted. They were ¡§entertainment¡¨, ¡§ease of use¡¨, ¡§efficiency of using information¡¨, and ¡§useful¡¨. The factors of internet perceived risk were ¡¨credibility and significance¡¨, ¡§security¡¨, and ¡§time¡¨. The factors of backpack perceived benefits were ¡§cheerful¡¨, ¡§innovational¡¨, ¡§functional¡¨, ¡§economic¡¨ and ¡§signal¡¨. The factors of backpack perceived risk were ¡§money loss¡¨, ¡§bad route of travel¡¨, ¡§damage to friendship¡¨, ¡§heavy duty¡¨ and ¡§not economic¡¨. Many clusters were formed and they are significant different in information search behavior in internet according to chi-square test. The study result also shows that different personal character has different information search behavior in internet; Both ¡§the composition of travel party¡¨ and ¡§backpacker¡¦s travel ability and experience¡¨ have influence on backpacker¡¦s perception of travel; ¡§the experience and ability of using internet¡¨ and ¡§internet perceived benefit¡¨ are direct proposition, on the contrary, the experience and ability of using internet¡¨ and ¡§internet perceived benefit¡¨ are inverse proposition; most of backpackers are good educated and have good income; the purpose of backpacker is mainly to get flexible route of travel, and the economic factor is the last important of all.

The main subject of this study is about Taiwanese girls and ladies clothing brand called Scottish House, and to discuss the consumer whether or not be influenced by extrinsic cues such as image of the country of origin, brand image and prices when purchasing clothing, thereby affecting the perceived quality and purchase intention. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: 1. Image of COO and COD will indeed have a positive impact on perceived quality, indicating that female consumers of Scottish House think the image of COO and COD make them feel that the clothing has high quality. And the impact of image of COD on perceived quality is more than image of COO. 2. Brand image will also have a positive impact on perceived quality and the influence of brand image of the Scottish House on perceived quality is the strongest over image of COO and COD. 3. Perceived price will have a positive impact on perceived quality, and the female customer regards Scottish House as high price. However, the influence of perceived price on perceived quality is far lower than the image of COO and COD. 4. Perceived quality will have a positive impact on purchase intention, customers thinks Scottish House has high quality and thus increase their willingness to buy. The conclusions above are significant to the management in the following aspects. 1. COD is relatively important. 2. Brand image is a key extrinsic cue for judging product quality. 3. Price has a limitation to explain product quality. 4. High product quality leads to high purchase intention.

In a time during which the consumer has the choice of many similar products (Burnett, 2007), retailers seek business growth and competiveness, for example through the introduction of their own private label (Pepe, 2008). Thus the interest and relevance of private labels has increased in recent years (Nielsen, 2014; Gázquez-Abad et al., 2014). As studies have shown, the consumers’ perception and loyalty towards brands and private labels can vary across countries leading to the topic of the study, namely a comparison of the consumers’ loyalty and perception of private labels in Greece and Germany. Thus, the relationship between the cultures and the consumers’ behaviour is evaluated towards possible differences. Using the quantitative research approach, a self-completion questionnaire was answered by both 140 German and 140 Greek consumers. Through analysing the data, the validity of six hypotheses was measured. This way, the question regarding possible differences in consumers’ loyalty and perception of private labels in Greece and Germany could be answered. As a result to this question, the main differences refer to the Greeks’ high loyalty towards manufacturer brands and the low perceived quality of private labels in comparison with German consumers. Thus, most importantly, Greek consumers have to be convinced of the good quality of private labels in order to lower their perceived risk, try the products and be less loyal to manufacturer brands.

This research explores the relationship between the cognitive variables perceived risks, perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived hazard experience with farmer support for adaptation and the agreement between farmer perceptions with observed climate conditions of drought and excess precipitation. Climate conditions were evaluated using monthly Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) values from 1950 to 2014. The remaining variables were measured using a closed ended survey of corn and soybean farmers (N =276) in the Iowa-Cedar Watershed. The relationships were evaluated using Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation (), frequency distributions, and probability analysis. Perceived barriers were found to be a significant predictor of support for adaptation. Transformational adaptations were less supported by farmers than incremental adaptations. Farmers expressed more concern for finances than any other risks or barrier. The majority of farmers reported low to moderate risks to drought and precipitation with high efficacy to cope to future impacts. Lastly, climate conditions indicate that there were more frequent and extreme precipitation events than drought events and that farmer perceptions of climate are consistent with observed climate conditions. However, while climate change projections indicate increased weather extremes in the future, farmers perceive no change in risks. It is unclear whether or not farmers are actually equipped to handle future threats to their crops. Future research should address this problem by conducting a longitudinal study to observe farmers’ perception prior to and after experiencing extreme events.

This study explored the generalizability of citizenship behavior, support, and fit to the occupational domain. In doing so, arguments to include occupation constructs in organizational analyses were offered, reliability and validity testing of the occupation constructs was performed, and relationships among the occupation constructs, their respective organizational counterparts, occupation-related outcomes, and organization-related outcomes were explored. Results of the assessments demonstrated that occupational citizenship behavior, perceived occupational support, and person-occupation fit are distinguishable from their organizational counterparts and that occupation constructs and organization constructs contributed independently to occupational activity and work place behavior. Overall findings from the study suggest inclusion of occupation constructs in organizational analyses can enrich, complement and/or supplement our understanding of organizational behavior. / Business Administration

The ratings of perceived exertion are commonly employed within both a clinical and exercise setting to quantify, monitor and evaluate an individual’s exercise tolerance and level of exertion. Recent advances in the area of perceived exertion have led to novel applications in the use of the ratings of perceived exertion scale as a means of predicting an individual’s maximal functional capacity (VO2max) for exercise (Eston, Lamb, Parfitt, & King, 2005; Eston, Faulkner, Mason, & Parfitt, 2006; Eston, Lambrick, Sheppard, & Parfitt, 2008; Faulkner, Parfitt, & Eston, 2007). Yet the utility of such procedures with low-fit individuals or children has received little or no research attention. As such, one aim of this thesis was to assess the efficacy of the ratings of perceived exertion in predicting the VO2max of low-fit men and women, and healthy children. It is often presumed that like adults, a child’s perception of exertion rises linearly with increases in exercise intensity, despite a limited amount research suggesting otherwise. Moreover, there is a lack of empirical evidence to suggest that children regulate their power output during a closed-loop exercise task in order to complete a given distance in the fastest time possible. Therefore, a further aim of this thesis was to explore the nature of the perceptual responses of young children across differing modes of exercise, and to examine whether children employ pacing strategies during running. In relation to this latter aim, it was of particular interest to explore pacing in relation to the ratings of perceived exertion during running, as the ratings of perceived exertion have been proposed as a key component of such a regulatory system during exercise (Tucker, 2009). This thesis comprises a qualitative review of relevant literature, and six study chapters which were borne out of five empirical studies. The findings of studies 1 and 2 (chapters 3 & 4, respectively) support the utility of the ratings of perceived exertion to estimate VO2max in low-fit men and women, during cycle ergometry exercise. Importantly, this has been shown from a single exercise test at a low-moderate exercise intensity, during either a step-incremental (study 1) or ramp-incremental (study 2) protocol. Studies 3 and 4 (chapters 5 & 6, respectively) provide evidence to suggest that a child’s perception of exertion may rise linearly or curvilinearly in relation to increasing work, during either cycle ergometry or treadmill exercise. These studies support the utility of a unique, curvilinear, paediatric ratings of perceived exertion scale in obtaining accurate exertional responses from young children, across differing modes of exercise. In contrast to studies 1 and 2, study 5 (chapter 7) suggests that the novel means of predicting maximal functional capacity from submaximal ratings of perceived exertion in adults is inaccurate with young children. This was particularly evident in the low intraclass correlation coefficients and wide limits of agreement obtained between measured- and predicted VO2max, for both cycle ergometry and treadmill exercise. Study 6 (chapter 8) demonstrated that young children employ pacing strategies during an 800 m run, similar to adults, and that this improves with trial familiarisation. Moreover, the presence of other competitors has a detrimental effect on performance, particularly for girls.

Using survey data from 61 employees, a regression analysis was performed to measure the effects that tangible rewards have on the employees? perception of organizational support. The analysis found that when employees have positive valance towards a reward and recall it frequently, they have increased levels of perceived organizational support. The study demonstrates that when organizations provide employees with rewards that the employees? value and recall, the employees will feel more supported by the organization. Employees who feel supported by the organization are more likely to engage in desirable workplace behaviours such as increased job involvement and reduced absenteeism.

Using survey data from 61 employees, a regression analysis was performed to measure the effects that tangible rewards have on the employees? perception of organizational support. The analysis found that when employees have positive valance towards a reward and recall it frequently, they have increased levels of perceived organizational support. The study demonstrates that when organizations provide employees with rewards that the employees? value and recall, the employees will feel more supported by the organization. Employees who feel supported by the organization are more likely to engage in desirable workplace behaviours such as increased job involvement and reduced absenteeism.

The purpose of this study was to determine how leadership practices impact student performance as perceived by principals and selected site-based decision making (SBDM) committee members of high schools in Region V Education Service Center (ESC), Texas. The study is one of four studies which examined perceived leadership practices of principals in the public school system in Southeast Texas. The other studies in this cohort focused on elementary principals, middle school principals and superintendents. This study compared the perceptions of high school principals and selected SBDM committee members regarding leadership practices and determined if selected demographic variables had an impact on the perceived leadership practices of the two identified groups. The investigation procedures for this study involved an analysis of the responses from principals and site-based decision making committee members to the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by James Kouzes and Barry Posner (2003) which evaluates the use of five identified leadership practices. Student performance information for the 29 participating high school campuses was obtained from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System. Findings indicate no linear relationship exists between perceived leadership practices of high school principals and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) performance. Further analysis revealed no statistical significance in the correlation of student academic success as measured by TAKS and the five leadership practices identified by Kouzes and Posner(2002); Inspire a Shared Vision, Model the Way, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The data indicated that Region V high school principals embrace the leadership practices identified by Kouzes and Posner at least moderately (between the 30th and 69th percentile) and in some cases at a higher level (70th percentile or above). Also, the data revealed that, as a group, the high school principals rated themselves higher overall regarding perceived leadership in comparison to their observers. Further analysis of the data showed that the demographic variables of gender and ethnicity did not have an effect on survey responses of the study participants. After examining the differences between the LPI responses of principals and their observers regarding age and years of experience, it was evident that such demographic variables did not impact survey responses.

Perceived control (PC), the degree to which individuals believe they have direct influence over events in their life, is often found to be associated with emotional well-being. Moreover, for over three decades, research has demonstrated that PC fosters health in advanced age. The mediational role of health in the PC and emotion relationship was investigated. Community-dwelling older adults (n = 232) were examined via secondary data analysis from the Aging in Manitoba (AIM) project and the Successful Aging Study (SAS). Separate mediational models were assessed for two different health mediators, self-rated health and health-related restrictions, and for positive and negative emotions. PC was found to benefit both physical and emotional well-being. The evidence of mediation was most compelling in the prediction of negative emotions and health-related restrictions. Findings have implications for treatment interventions in hopes to foster PC which in turn, should promote health and enhance later life emotional well-being.