This research examines a new methodology for prospectively estimating the willingness of travelers to use a toll road by combining travel time saved with the income of the prospective customer base. The purpose of the research is to facilitate network level planning by allowing some reasonable predictions of acceptable toll rates from readily available data and estimation techniques. Methods of estimating user benefit resulted in simulated distributions of value of user time. Values of time are linked to census tract income data for the user population to produce value of time as a percentage of income as an indicator. As relevant literature acknowledges the tendency toward increased toll road usage at higher income levels, it is hypothesized that linking estimates of value of time directly to household income would produce a more useful indicator of the travel market than do conventional indicators. Techniques for prospectively estimating the travelshed of a toll road are compared with the actual travelshed, as reflected in user home census tracts, as a means of evaluating the efficacy of those techniques in estimating the market area of a prospective toll road. Results show that considering value of time as a percentage of census tract median income provides an improved portrayal of the toll road market, as usage of the toll road increases with increasing income. Using census tract median income as the income parameter has shortcomings, in that it produces anomalous results at very low population levels. Of the two methods of estimating the travelshed, the visual estimation approach was not satisfactory, leaving the analyst to use select link analyses instead.

This study focuses on the feasibilities of Marine Recreational Fishing at Hsiao- Liu-Chiu Island by presenting its resource distribution and discussing the current fishing business conditions around the island. The current situations of local re- creational fishing businesses are evaluated by SWOT analysis. Tourists who visit the island are surveyed as research subject. Through questionnaires and field recreation activity investigation, this study demonstrates various possible development of re- creational fishing. The conceptual framework of this study is based on a non- marketing method - Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) - to analyze collected data. The method has estimated the economical value of Hsiao-Liu-Chiu Island for future recreation activities with the willingness-to-pay (WTP) among the visiting tourists. A proper managerial and administrative system is also suggested in order to bring optimal performance in terms of economical value and resource application for the island's fishermen and tourists. According to the data collected: 70% of tourists are willingly to participate sport fishing; 90% would like to try recreational cage. And under CVM estimation, the WTP for sport fishing is about NT$896 per person, and NT$738 per person for recreational cage. Considering the total annual tourist population visiting Hsiao-Liu- Chiu Island, sport fishing may generates about NT$93,000,000 economical value annually, and about NT$98,000,000 for recreational cage. At the end, this research also provide suggestions on related management strategies and directions for the fishermen, cage owners, and local fishery organization

This research was to explore the¡§Correlation among participating motivation, job satisfaction and sustained willingness to serve of volunteers of cultural institution.¡¨Kaohsiung Public Library is presented as a case study in this research. The questionnaire is the main method. Meanwhile, interviews with volunteers are also offered for providing more evidence and new thinking toward this issue. There are four objectives to serve as guidelines for this research. ¡]1¡^To understand the status quo of the backgrounds of volunteers of cultural institutions and their participating motivation, job satisfaction and sustained willingness to serve. ¡]2¡^To explore the differences of participating motivation, job satisfaction and sustained willingness to serve of volunteers of different background. ¡]3¡^To explore the correlation among participating motivation, job satisfaction and sustained willingness to serve.¡]4¡^To predict the influence of participating motivation and job satisfaction on the sustained willingness to serve. The questionnaires were distributed to 235 volunteers, including 172 current and 51 quitted, in 10 branch libraries of Kaohsiung Public Library. There were 223 valid questionnaires . Usable rate was about 95¢M. After analyzed, the results of this research are as follows¡G ¡]1¡^The background of each volunteers of Kaohsiung Public Library shows a great amount of similarities with one another. ¡]2¡^As for the overall participation motivation, the highest one is self-growth. Different age, whether they have religious beliefs would make obvious difference on the participating motivation. ¡]3¡^As for the overall job satisfaction, the highest one is self-growth. Different age, occupations , whether they have religious beliefs and status would make obvious difference on the job satisfaction. ¡]4¡^Volunteers in Kaohsiung Public Library have strong willingness to continue to serve in the future. Different age, occupations and whether they have religious beliefs would make obvious difference on sustained willingness to Serve. ¡]5¡^The study results show significant positive correlation between a volunteer¡¦s participation motivation and job satisfaction, participating motivation and sustained willingness to serve, and job satisfaction and sustained willingness to serve. ¡]6¡^¡§self-growth satisfaction¡¨can predict the level of sustained willingness to serve. In compliance with the above-mentioned results, the researcher provides authorities, institutions, and future researchers with constructive suggestions.

In the development of knowledge economy, knowledge is recognized as the most important resource for enhancing or sustaining competition advantage. It is also a key factor for maintaining the long-term success of organizations. The beginning and an important stage of knowledge management is knowledge sharing which is the key to organization creation, learning, performance, and the prediction of successful knowledge management. It will increase the accumulation of organizational knowledge and advance the organizational ability. Knowledge management is traditionally dominated by the viewpoint of information technology. Researchers have emphasized the importance of information technology infrastructure and application in knowledge delivery. However, while explicit knowledge sharing is depended on the utilization of information technology, studies also indicated that tacit knowledge sharing is mainly depended on informal interaction between co-workers¡¦ emotional and the degree of trust. Drawing on the perspective of social exchange theory, this research considers knowledge sharing as a social activity which is an exchange relationship between knowledge contributors and knowledge recipients¡]refer to team-member exchange, TMX¡^. In addition, the interaction between knowledge contributors and knowledge recipients is affected by the relationship between organization-member exchange¡]OMX¡^and leader-member exchange¡]LMX¡^. Therefore, this article investigates the factors which affect the willingness of knowledge sharing by considering the interaction and exchange relationship among individuals and organizations, managers, and other members in organizations. The individual and organization exchange relationship includes the challenging job characteristic and incentive system which provide by the organizations to motivate employees¡¦ knowledge sharing. Moreover, the inter-personal social exchange includes the interaction between co-workers and the interaction between individuals and managers. Employees would share their knowledge if they perceived the benefit of the interaction (either intrinsic or extrinsic) exceeded the cost (losing the power of holding the critical knowledge) of sharing the knowledge. This research investigated how organizational factors (including job characteristics and incentive system), inter-personal factors (including trust and social support between co-workers and leader-member interaction), and team commitment effect the willingness of knowledge sharing. Further, the article also took the team commitment as the mediator and the account of the knowledge characteristics (both importance and taciturnity) into consideration as the moderators. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of R&D team members who work at Hsinchu Science Park or Southern Taiwan Science Park. The twenty-eight technology firms were selected using convenience sampling. Out of the 1,220 questionnaires had been sent, the 650 of them were completed. The data were tested using one way ANOVA, correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression. The results indicated that organizational factors, inter-personal factors, and team commitment have positively related to the willingness of knowledge sharing. The team commitment fully mediated the relationship between willingness of knowledge sharing and incentive system, and leader-member interaction. The team commitment partially mediated the relationship between willingness of knowledge sharing and job characteristics, and co-worker interaction. In addition, the article also found that job characteristics, co-worker interaction, leader-member interaction, and team commitment were more strongly, positively related to the willingness of knowledge sharing when knowledge importance and taciturnity were being driven.

Abstract The advent of knowledge economy era signifies the importance of knowledge, and knowledge management is drawing great attention. The success of knowledge management depends on the willingness of employees to share knowledge. This research studies whether organization support and social support will affect employee's commitment to organization, and whether more commitment will make employees more willing to share knowledge for the benefit of the organization. Furthermore, this research will verify the mediating effect of organizational commitment on the interaction among organization support, social support and knowledge sharing willingness. This research uses questionnaires for experiment and verification, total 550 questionnaires are sent to traditional manufacturer and communication service companies located in Southern Taiwan, which are randomly selected from the top 1000 manufacturers and the top 500 companies according Business Week 2006, and 486 questionnaires returned. The effective questionnaires return rate is 88.4%. The results of this research is following: (1) The profession support and mission support had positively effect to the organization commitment, and the first had more effect than the second. (2) In the society support, the emotional support and the tool support had positively effect to the organization commitment, and the first had more effect than the second. Also the supervisor's support had more effect than the family and friend's support. (3) In the organization commitment, emotion had positively effect to the knowledge sharing willingness, but the persistent promise did not. (4)The supervisor and senior employee had more organization commitment and knowledge sharing willingness than other employees.

Economic aspects of household recycling behavior and attitudes in City of Bryan are examined to improve solid waste management policies in the city. Using survey data collected by mail and personal interviews, residents’ attitudes towards solid waste management are analyzed, in general, and specifically, the factors influencing recycling behavior examined using logistic regression. In addition, three alternative policies are presented to respondents. First, support for an additional drop-off recycling center (Policy I) is examined. Second, WTP for two different recycling programs, curbside recycling service (Policy II), and curbside recycling with a drop-off recycling center (Policy III), as a function of socio-economic factors thought to influence WTP are computed using contingent valuation method, an indirect valuation tool. Finally, preference for a particular policy among the three alternatives presented to the residents of Bryan is explored. Because of the different data collection modes and assumptions on the bid prices two logit models are estimated to examine recycling behavior, and Policy I and two multinomial logit models for the most preferred policy, whereas four logit models are estimated for Policy II and III. The estimated models are similar both within the Policies and between the Policies in terms of the affects of variables, significance of coefficients, and consistency with previous studies indicating a potential set of factors that can be used to explain WTP for recycling services. Bryan residents that are female, white, employed, have higher incomes, have children, own a house, and are self-perceived environmentalists tend to recycle more. Similarly, males, nonwhites, older respondents, students, non-environmentalists and non-recyclers are more likely to support an additional drop-off center. WTP for Policy II is positively influenced by males, whites, respondents who are employed, low-income respondents, environmentalists, non-recyclers, and those who support Policy I. In comparison, WTP for Policy III is positively influenced by females, whites, respondents who are employed, younger respondents, environmentalists, non-recyclers, and those who support Policy I. In the case of both Policies I and II, the bid price negatively influences WTP as expected. While the WTP for Policy II is slightly higher than the estimated cost of a curbside recycling service ($2.50), the WTP for Policy III is lower than the estimated cost. No consistent pattern emerges across most of the coefficients and the four possible alternatives, three proposed policies and the current situation. However, probabilities computed using the multinomial logit results is the highest for Policy II, followed by either Policy III or no change to the existing solid waste management policy.

Along with economy growth, trends of merger and acquisition (M&A) between organizations have become an important issue in both geographical and strategic terms. Through M&A, firms are able to utilize their resources, enhance their marketing channels and penetrate markets with better efficiency. However, how do products grab consumers¡¦ eyes against competitors? And how do firms maintain consumer loyalty? ¡§Brand¡¨ is a critical factor. When discussing issues relating brands, ¡§brand equity¡¨ is something one would never skip. The ¡§brand equity¡¨ means the value added of a brand, containing the overall conception and attitudes of consumers. Only through constructing and creating brand equity, firms could gather the unique value possessed by their brands. This thesis aims at discussing the relation between M&A, brand associations, the fit of target product, willingness to purchase and brand equity. This study served cellphone products as example and conducted four experiments. According to experiment result, the relationship between brand image of product and the product we want to buy is high before M&A, the brand equality and purchase intension are better than the relationship between brand image of product and the product we want to buy is low. This thesis use different fit of brand image to buy of different types of ingredient brand alliance, could affect the brand equity. Besides, different kinds of consumer could have different level of emphasising on the ingredient of integral brand alliance. When acquirers¡¦and acquirees¡¦possess high brand association and fit of brand image, brand equity of the acquirers¡¦would rise, especially in the parts of trustworthiness. Thus firms could cooperate with specialized firms in order to gain trusts from consumers. It is mention worthy that negative relations are documented in the product performance parts, thus, firms should pay attention on after-sales services and other parts instead of product alone after the M&A for the sake of brand equity and to let consumers enjoy better services.

This project focuses on organization members that use communication as their principle tool for carrying out job duties and responsibilities. More specifically, this study examines the factors that impact the communication of inside and outside sales representatives. The goal of this research is to investigate willingness to communicate, communication apprehension, and self-esteem in daily life and in organizational settings. A total of 87 participants completed questionnaires congruent with these three topics. Previous literature concerning willingness to communicate, communication apprehension, and self esteem were examined to explore relevant information concerning each topic. Results suggest that differences in men and women and willingness to communicate in daily life or communication apprehension are not highly significant. Yet, there is a slight significance in differences when comparing sex and willingness to communicate in the workplace. A longitudinal study of self-esteem and goal success proved self-esteem was not a significant variable when discussing goal attainment within an organization. Future research should explore other variables that could affect willingness to communicate, communication apprehension, and self-esteem to better understand communication within the workplace.

The city of Austin in recent years has undertaken a number of planning initiatives to guide future development in the rapidly-growing urban area. What has emerged is a clear commitment to a broad definition of sustainability that includes environmental, economic, and social sustainability among both policy makers and the public. The city of Austin has made great strides towards its goal of becoming a model city for sustainability, but it still faces many challenges. The long-term sustainability of Texas construction jobs is threatened by declining wages, dangerous working conditions, and few employment-based benefits. To help address these challenges, the Workers Defense Project (WDP), a local community-based organization dedicated to improving working conditions for Austin’s low-wage workers, has partnered with industry and community stakeholders to create the Premier Community Builders (PCB) certification program. Certification programs, which require businesses to meet minimum set of standards in exchange for a seal or trademark that publicizes their commitment to corporate social responsibility, have become a popular tool in recent years for improving conditions in a variety of industries. Implementing a certification program, however, often drives up costs associated with adopting more sustainable practices and is highly dependent upon consumers’ willingness to pay a price premium for the certified product. The purpose of this research is to explore consumer willingness to pay among downtown Austin residents and tourists for PCB certification. This exploratory study utilizes a contingent valuation survey as the primary instrument to determine whether or not downtown Austin consumers are willing to pay more for PCB certified construction and identify any demographic or identity-related factors associated with downtown consumers’ willingness to pay for PCB certification. / text

Mass customization (MC) constitutes a promising strategy for companies which aim to provide products which are better adapted to individual customers' aesthetic and functional preferences. Drawing on commodity theory, we argue that the perceived uniqueness of a self-designed product is a second driver of utility in MC. We find that in addition to the significant effect of aesthetic and functional fit, the perceived uniqueness of a self-designed product (1) contributes independently to the utility a customer experiences, and (2) that this effect is moderated by the consumer's need for uniqueness. In product categories which can serve this counterconformity motive for onsumers, this suggests that MC toolkits should be constructed with the objective of facilitating the creation of unique products as well as providing affirmative feedback that this uniqueness has been achieved. (authors' abstract)