Product return is a necessary part of the exchange process between companies and customers. It accounts for approximately 16% of total sales and a reduction in retailer / manufacturer profits by 3.8% on average. However, industry data also indicates that a significant portion of products are returned for reasons other than product failure – e.g., change of mind, found a lower price elsewhere, or fraudulent and unethical reasons. Consequently, many firms (e.g., REI) have altered their generous return policies to protect their profits. However, it’s been found that the restricted return policy could also reduce customer satisfaction, increase the perceived risk, and thus negatively affect customers’ loyalty towards a particular store or firm. Thus having a restrictive return policy does not help either. Extant literature mainly focuses on return policies. Little attention has been devoted to the product return behavior itself, thus missing the consumer’s perspective. This study, therefore, focuses on understanding consumers’ return behaviors, including different types of return behaviors, and the drivers and consequences of these different return behaviors. Towards this goal, this study first categorizes all possible types of consumers’ return behaviors into two broad categories - legitimate return behaviors and opportunistic return behaviors. Second, both internal (i.e., variety seeking, impulsiveness, perceived uniqueness, materialism, level of morality, and self-monitoring) and external drivers (i.e., product compatibility, returning cost, perceived risk, complexity of procedure, and social group influence) of consumers’ product return behaviors are identified. Third, the relationship between these drivers of return behavior and the type of return behavior are examined. Finally, the influence of these two different types of return behaviors on consumer’s re-patronage intention is examined. This study uses a survey method to collect data in two phases - pilot phase and main study. In the pilot phase, data were collected from students and used to assess the factor structure, reliability and validity. In the main study, data were collected from both students (N=367) and non-students using M-Turk (N=395). The psychometric properties of the scale items were once again assessed using covariance based Confirmatory Factor Analysis procedure. Finally, multivariate regression was used to test the hypothesized relationships between the drivers of return behavior, types of return behavior, and the re-patronage intention. The findings indicate that product compatibility and desire for uniqueness negatively influence legitimate return behavior; whereas impulsiveness, perceived risk and social group have a positive influence. For opportunistic return behavior, social group and immorality positively influence both legitimate and opportunistic return behavior. However, other drivers have no influence on consumers’ return behavior. Finally, legitimate return behavior positively influences consumer’s re-patronage intention, while opportunistic return behavior has a negative influence. This study makes two major contributions. First, it contributes to the theoretical understanding of complex return behavior, including legitimate return and opportunistic return behavior, and thus adds depth to the literature of product returns. Second, by identifying the drivers of product return behaviors such as product compatibility, perceived risk of keeping the product, social group influence, and immorality, this study offers managers knowledge that will help reduce product returns, thus increasing their profits.

Background: The study is based in post-apartheid South Africa and looks at the health and well being of households in the rural northeast. Temporary migration remains important in South Africa because it functions as a mainstay for income and even survival of rural communities. The economic base of rural South Africans is surprisingly low because there is high inequity at a national level, within and between racial groups. There has now been a democratic system in place for 15 years and there is no longer restriction of mobility, but there remain high levels of poverty in rural areas and rising mortality rates. Migration patterns did not change after apartheid in the manner expected. We need to examine consequences of migration and learn how to offset negative impacts with targeted policies. Aims: To determine a relevant typology of migration in a typical rural sending community, namely the Agincourt sub-district of Mpumalanga, South Africa, and relate it to the urban transition at a national level – Paper (I) . To evaluate the dynamics of socio-economic status in this rural community and examine the relationship with migration – Paper (II). To explore, using longitudinal methods, the impact of migration on key dimensions of health, including adult and child mortality, and sexual partnerships, over a period of an emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic – Papers (III), (IV) and (V). Methods: The health and socio-demographic surveillance system (HDSS) is a large open cohort where the migration dynamics are monitored as they unfold. They are recorded as temporary or permanent migration. Settled refugees are captured using nationality on entry into the HDSS. Longitudinal methods, namely a household panel and two discrete time event history analyses, are used to examine consequences of migration. Results: Migration features prominently and different types have different age and sex profiles. Temporary migration impacts the most on socio-economic status (SES) and health, but permanent migration and the settlement of former refugees are also important. Remittances from migrants make a significant difference to SES. For the poorest households the key factors improving SES are government grants and female temporary migration, while for less poor it is male temporary migration and local employment. Migration has been associated with HIV. Migrants that return more frequently may be less exposed to outside partners and therefore less implicated in the HIV epidemic. There are links between migration and mortality including a higher risk of dying for returnee migrants compared to permanent residents. A mother’s migration can impact on child survival after accounting for other factors. There remains a higher mortality risk for children of Mozambican former refugee parents. Interpretation: Migration changes the risks and resources for health with positive and negative implications. Measures such as improved transportation and roads should be seen as a positive, not a negative intervention, even though it will create more migration. Health services need to adapt to a reality of high levels of circular migration ranging from budget allocation to referral systems. Data should be enhanced at a national level by accounting for temporary migration in national censuses and surveys. At individual level we can offset negative consequences by treating migrants as persons striving against adversity, instead of unwelcome visitors in our better-off communities.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the various reasons that have contributed to the decisionof international students not to return to their home countries after completing their studies, with a focus on students from Rwanda, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The study will include information about student’s home countries to provide a greater understanding of where they come from and how this has contributed to the decisions they have made. The push and pull factor theory will help to understand the different reasons why people choose to immigrate instead of staying in their home countries and what becomes a pull factor in the whole process. To gain even more insight into the students' choice not to return home, semistructured interviews with the 10 individuals will become important. By interviewing the 10 individuals from Rwanda, Nigeria, and Cameroon, one could tell that the countries have had amajor impact on the students' choice not to return home. Results showed that many chose not to return home because of the political instability that council in their home countries, some also felt living a life where they did not have to worry about tomorrow was an important factor in not going back home. The conclusion drawn was that countries were losing talented people because of their inability to put the needs of their citizens first.

Returns in the fashion e-commerce industry have experienced a significant increase in recent years, and with the continuous growth of e-commerce, returns are expected to further increase. Companies are faced with the choice of either improving existing return processes or focusing on avoiding returns before a purchase is made. The purpose of this study was to identify methods for avoiding returns by examining returning behaviors and avoidance practices. The feasibility of these methods was investigated for a specific company in the premium segment, allowing conclusions to be drawn about their applicability for similar companies in the same segment. The results indicated that the suitability of a method often depended on how customers perceive the company's brand. Furthermore, the findings revealed a trade-off between providing extensive product information and the risk of damaging the brand image. By implementing suitable methods to avoid returns, the number of returns and associated costs can be reduced, while enhancing customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty. Additionally, a reduction in returns can also mitigate the negative environmental impact caused by a high volume of returns. / Returer inom mode e-handel har ökat drastiskt de senaste åren, och med bakgrund av en växande e-handel kan returer förväntas öka ännu mer. Företag står inför valet att antingen förbättra befintliga returprocesser eller att fokusera på att undvika returer redan innan ett köp genomförs. Syftet med denna studie var att identifiera metoder för att undvika varureturer genom att undersöka returbeteenden och förebyggande åtgärder. Tillämpbarheten av dessa metoder undersöktes för ett specifikt företag inom premiumsegmentet och således kunde slutsatser dras om metodernas tillämpbarhet för liknande företag inom samma segment. Resultaten visade att huruvida en metod var lämplig eller ej oftast kunde kopplas till hur kunder uppfattar företagets varumärke. Vidare visade resultaten att det finns en avvägning vad gäller att tillhandahålla omfattande produktinformation gentemot att riskera att skada sitt varumärke. Genom implementering av lämpliga metoder kan antalet returer och därmed returkostnader minskas, samtidigt som kundens upplevelse, nöjdhet och lojalitet förbättras. Slutligen kan även en minskning av returer också minska den negativa påverkan på miljön som orsakas av ett stort antal returer i allmänhet.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:39:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cristina Martins Torres Masiero.pdf: 5901104 bytes, checksum: 879ed9ece4a683af230a01965cc7eb29 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-24 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Introduction: Paraplegia may be caused by physical deficiency as a result of a spinal cord injury, often being necessary the use of wheelchair for locomotion by the injured person. On top of reduced mobility and other clinical consequences, people with spinal cord injury might have to deal with emotional and social impacts. Epidemiological studies show that most of spinal cord injury patients are young male adults, what makes returning to work an extremely important topic. Furthermore, the relevance of this study is justified/highlighted by the recent movement for inclusion of handicapped people in the work environment, as outlined in the quote law in Brazil. Reduced mobility, as well as some environmental barriers (physical barriers and society s atittudes) may be risk factors that could negatively affect the development of these young adults, once they could alter their roles in their families and in the society (socially and professionally). There comes the importance of studying these people s resilience which involves the ability to cope and positively adapt when dealing with adversities, and their capacity to learn from these situations. Returning to work might represent the re-start of their personal development after the spinal cord injury has occurred. Objectives: to collect social-demographics and resilience characteristics of 60 participants with spinal cord injury, to compare these characteristics between 30 worker with 30 nonworker participants, and to collect the psychological aspects of this study sample from the resilience results. Method: A Social-Demographic Questionnaire and the Questionário de Resiliência Adulto Reivich-Shatté/Barbosa were used to collect the data. The data statistical analysis showed the social-demographic and resilience characteristics of the study sample, as well as the comparison of these characteristics between the two groups. From the data analysis, it was possible to collect some psychological aspects of the study sample. Results: the study sample showed similar characteristics to the epidemiological studies done with spinal cord injury population as it relates to sex, age and how the spinal cord injury was acquired. When comparing the two groups, no significant differences were found for the resilience factors. However, the data showed that environmental factors (physical barriers and society s attitude), and the difficulty to have autonomy are factors that could make it more challenging for people with spinal cord injury to return to work. It also was possible to collect some psychological aspects of the sample based on the resilience factors results. That showed the importance of the psychologists in helping people with spinal cord injury to deal with their emotions and to better develop their resilience factors. This would allow them to return to their personal development, including their capacity to rebuild a new professional identity / Introdução: A aquisição de uma deficiência física por lesão medular, pode ocasionar o quadro de paraplegia, exigindo, muitas vezes, o uso de cadeira de rodas para locomoção. Além da mobilidade reduzida e de outras conseqüências clínicas, as pessoas com lesão medular podem ter que lidar com os impactos emocional e social da aquisição dessa deficiência. Estudos epidemiológicos apontam que a maioria das pessoas que sofrem a lesão medular são jovens adultos, do sexo masculino, fazendo com que o retorno ao trabalho seja um tema de extrema importância. Para justificar a relevância deste trabalho, soma-se à última informação, o atual movimento pela inclusão profissional de pessoas com deficiências, promovido pela lei de cotas . A mobilidade reduzida e a existência de barreiras físicas e atitudinais podem constituir-se como fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento esperado para esses adultos, uma vez que podem sofrer alterações nos seus papéis familiares, sociais e profissionais. Nessa perspectiva, torna-se importante o estudo da resiliência dessas pessoas, que envolve os recursos de enfrentamento de adversidades e a habilidade de adaptação positiva, que traduzem a capacidade de algumas pessoas de lidarem com as adversidades e aprenderem com elas. O retorno ao trabalho pode representar a retomada do processo do desenvolvimento pessoal, após a aquisição da lesão medular. Objetivos: levantar as características sócio-demográficas e de resiliência de uma amostra de 60 pessoas com lesão medular, comparar essas características entre os 30 participantes da amostra que estavam trabalhando e os 30 que não estavam e levantar os aspectos psicológicos da amostra, a partir dos resultados dos fatores de resiliência. Método: para a coleta de dados utilizamos um Questionário de Dados Sócio-demográficos e o Questionário de Resiliência Adultos Reivich-Shatté/Barbosa . Os dados foram submetidos a análise estatística permitindo a descrição das características sócio-demográficas e de resiliência da amostra, bem como a comparação dessas características nos dois grupos. A partir da análise desses dados, pudemos levantar alguns aspectos psicológicos da amostra. Resultados: A amostra apresentou características condizentes com os estudos epidemiológicos sobre a população de pessoas com lesão medular, com relação ao sexo, faixa etária e forma de aquisição da lesão. Os resultados para os fatores de resiliência permitiram levantar alguns aspectos psicológicos da amostra. Na comparação entre os grupos, não encontramos diferenças significantes para os fatores de resiliência, contudo, os dados apontaram que as barreiras físicas, as barreiras atitudinais e a dificuldade para autonomia são fatores que dificultam o retorno dessas pessoas ao trabalho. Encontramos indicativos que sugerem a importância do trabalho do psicólogo em auxiliar essas pessoas a elaborarem suas emoções para desenvolverem melhor os fatores de resiliência e conseguirem retomar seu percurso de desenvolvimento pessoal, incluindo a capacidade da construção de uma nova identidade profissional

Nearly 700,000 prisoners return to communities annually, and approximately two-thirds are rearrested within 3 years of release. The cyclic pattern of recidivism presents risks to both returning offenders and the communities that accept them. Reentry research tends to include the voice and experiences of juveniles, community members, and service providers, and narrowly focuses on the socioeconomic conditions of adult ex-offender populations pre- and post-release. Few researchers have explored the attitudes of those returning citizens or the perceived impact on treatment success, as related to employment-based, post-release reintegration programs. This study investigated the attitudes of 32 participants of Project Empowerment, the District of Columbia's post-release program. The ecology of public administration theory and empowerment theory provided the theoretical frameworks for understanding offender reentry within employment-based programming. Interview data were coded and analyzed consistent with a modified van Kaam method. A key finding indicates job-readiness training completion is largely contingent upon development of positive attitudes from both public administrators and participants. Additionally, participants were cognizant of the attitudes of community members regarding reentry and employment, and were more likely to see program participation as beneficial if perceived community support was high. The implications for positive social change include recommendations for reentry programs, such as Project Empowerment, to create an empowerment environment conducive to attitude development concerning self and society. Such an environment creates trust and opportunities for successful engagement in employment programs and decreases the risk of recidivism among communities that support individuals returning from incarceration.

In order to explore the differences in engagement levels between entering and returning community college students, the researcher analyzed 13,300 surveys from the 2007 Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) pilot data set utilizing a quantitative methodology. This study focused on analyzing engagement levels of entering and returning students in six constructs: Active and Collaborative Learning, First Day, Student Effort, Student-faculty Interaction, Support for Learners, and Motivation. After the comparison between the two groups was performed, data were disaggregated by eleven groups to further explore differences. Differences in engagement levels were explored in terms of students’ characteristics such as remedial background, age, gender, full-time status, ethnicity, degree seeking, first generation, and traditional status. The results of this study revealed that returning community college students in general, are more engaged in educational practices associated with persistence than entering students. In addition, findings suggest that with the exception of one variable (overall high school grade average), students commonly categorized as “at risk” or “disadvantaged” (developmental, non-traditional, part-time, first generation, minorities) overwhelmingly held higher levels of engagement in all positive engagement variables of the six analyzed constructs. Furthermore, in an analysis of disaggregated data by eleven groups of students, the following was found: o Students who placed in three developmental courses were by far the most highly engaged group in all positive engagement variables of the six constructs. o Students with the highest level of engagement in the two negative variables of the Student Effort construct (skipped class or came to class without completing readings or assignments) were traditional, 18-19 year olds, not-first generation, and non-developmental students. o Students who reported that success courses had helped them to get the knowledge necessary to succeed in college were overwhelmingly disadvantaged students (developmental, non-traditional, females and minorities). o Developmental students showed higher levels of engagement with regard to college services. o Financial aid advising and skill labs (math, reading, and writing) were the two services with the highest number of statistically significant differences throughout the eleven groups. This study was concluded with recommendations for further research and strategies that community college stakeholders could implement to increase student retention. / text

The purpose of this research was to ascertain the characteristics of dropouts, their rationale for reentry, and what constituted effective practices within a Texas alternative education program (AEP). While, a number of studies have been conducted to explain why students drop out of school, more research was needed in the area of students that reenter to complete their studies (Fernandez, Paulsen & Hiranko-Nakanishi, 1996; Krashen, 1998; NCES, 1981; Pirog & Magee, 1997; Ramsey, 1988; Rumberger, 1995; Warren, 1996; White & Kaufman, 1997). The study utilized qualitative methodology with a case-study approach by utilizing small groups within the context of an organization (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The study site was purposely selected (Kuzel, 1992; Morse, 1989) using low-socio-economic criteria, ethnic representation, an AEIS rating of Commended, and a high graduation rate. Site participant selection included comprehensive sampling (Goetz and LeCompte, 1984) of the AEP personnel and random sampling of the student participants and their respective parents. The primary data was collected using a modified three-interview method (Dolbeare and Schuman, 1982) with corroborating document review and focus groups. Findings indicated that research participants could identify seventeen different characteristics for returning high school students. Some of the characteristics describing these students also reflect their motivation or rationale for returning back to complete their high school studies. The study revealed four major practices within the AEP that supported the program and its students towards their mission of graduating. These were: hiring the right personnel, monitoring academic progress, providing student support services, and maintaining a safe school climate. A resultant theme indicated that there was a need to promote a positive image of the value of the AEP. Since only ten participants and five students were included in the study, the findings can only be tentatively generalized. Finally, suggestions are made for AEP programs to be designed to entice students not only to return back to school, but to remain until their goal to graduate is realized. / text

Although the similarities between the English language and the Japanese language are few, the two have influenced each other profoundly in the last century. The category of words called gairaigo in the Japanese language mostly consist of loanwords from Western languages – in particular English. But what happens when translators translate these originally English words in Japanese back to English? This thesis sought to examine what kind of local strategies Japanese-to-English translators use when translating gairaigo, if these strategies vary depending on the text type and whether or not there is a correlation between the local strategies and the word class of the gairaigo. Three different kinds of texts were examined; a novel, several newspaper articles and an operation manual. By comparing the source texts with their corresponding target texts, it was possible to determine six different local strategies used to translate gairaigo – omission, returning, transposition, modulation, equivalence and paraphrase. / Även om japanska och engelska är två vitt skilda språk har de ändå påverkat varandra i stor utsträckning i modern tid. Den kategori av ord som på japanska kallas gairaigo består av lånord som främst lånats in från västerländska språk – framförallt engelska. Men vad händer när ord inlånade till japanska från engelska översätts tillbaka till engelska igen? Den här uppsatsen hade som syfte att undersöka vilka lokala strategier översättare använder när de översätter gairaigo. Skiljer sig strategierna beroende på vilken typ av text som översättaren arbetar med? Finns det en korrelation mellan vilken typ av lokal strategi som används och det inlånade ordets ordklass? Tre olika typer av texter undersöktes: en roman, ett antal nyhetsartiklar och en manual för en bärbar spelkonsol. Genom att jämföra källtexterna med de motsvarande måltexterna kunde sex olika lokala strategier identifieras: utelämning, återlämning, transposition, modulation, ekvivalens och parafras.

Returning citizens face a host of barriers when attempting to reintegrate into society; thus, services for these concerns are imperative for successful reintegration. Unfortunately, services are often lacking, particularly in rural communities which tend to be overlooked in reentry research. In order to better determine service need for justice-involved populations in rural communities, the current study completed a gap analysis, both inspired and supplemented, by qualitative information collected from mental health providers (MHPs) in a rural Appalachian region of Tennessee. To complete the gap analysis, an estimation of need was collected via local crime statistics. Using this data, a two-sample t-test revealed that increased rurality was related to a significantly higher percentage of substance use related crimes, but not to crimes against persons or sexual crimes. Service availability data was then collected for local providers in the domains of general mental health, substance abuse, anger management (or anger management aligned), and sex offender treatment. It was found that nine of the ten counties in the identified region are considered mental health professional shortage areas (MHPSAs) for general mental health care. Using average caseload data from local MHPs, a calculation of provider shortfall was completed for specialty services for returning citizens. For the identified 10-county region, provider shortfalls were existent in all treatment domains. The largest gap identified was for anger management aligned services, while the smallest gap identified was for sex offender treatment services. An increase in rurality did not ensure an increased provider shortfall across domains. Overall, MPHs in the area identified similar needs in treatment services via two major qualitative themes and five subthemes. The findings from the current study provide a specific example of what services are missing for rural returning citizens. It is hoped that the results of this study help inform policy and programming efforts in rural communities as they attempt to close the service gap and successfully reintegrate rural returning citizens.