Angela R. Dobele

Exploring the nature of value in the word-of-mouth referral equation for health care

Abstract Understanding the nature of customer value in health care is critical given the diversity of consumer needs, an increase in the number of providers, and resource pressures faced by private and public providers. A move to greater accountability and consumer sensitivity also has driven this need, especially since many providers of health care funds incorporate customer satisfaction into performance measures. To understand consumer value in health care, we focused on one context – word-of-mouth referrals by new mothers. Drawing upon 16 in-depth interviews, we identify the nature of value discussed, including the quality of the experience, staff friendliness and expertise, and source credibility.

Feathers in the nest: Establishing a supportive environment for women researchers.

This paper discusses research examining the attitudes and behaviours of researching women in academia and considers the effect of these factors on successful researching outcomes. The results of this exploratory research highlight in particular, a number of interesting environmental influencers which contribute to enhancing successful work outcomes for academic women researchers. Specifically, personal factors such as, marital status, partner support, age, cultural background and level of organisation (in life) coupled with, research defined factors such as incentive for conducting the research and the existence of research partnerships and/or groups are identified as significant performance influencers. These dimensions appear to facilitate the level of research productivity for women academics based on key performance indicators such as journal/conference paper submissions and successful research funding applications. The potential benefits of this exploratory research are that any correlation between specific self-supporting attitudes or behaviours of successful women academics and effective research outcomes could provide important clues to both emerging and continuing researchers for career development and promotion.

All things being equal: observing Australian individual academic workloads

The achievement of greater gender equity within Australian universities is a significant issue for both the quality and the strength of Australian higher education. This paper contributes to our knowledge of academic workloads, observing individual workloads in business faculties. A multiple case study method was employed to observe individual academic workloads. Two regional universities were selected for this research on the basis of their senior staff profiles. Multiple sources of evidence were used to gather teaching and research workload data for all faculty members. Differences in workloads were not always evident between genders. Our results suggest that universities that are over-represented with females in senior academic positions when compared to the national average achieve equity in workload. Universities that are underrepresented with females in senior academic positions do not achieve workload equity with male academics producing more research and coordinating more teaching.

The cracked glass ceiling: equal work but unequal status

The achievement of gender equity in universities continues to warrant attention. Globally, universities have much work ahead of them if they are to redress the gender imbalance in senior positions and remuneration rates. To examine this issue, multiple sources of evidence were used to observe teaching and research workload of academic staff employed at mid-tier business faculties from two urban Australian universities which had more women employed in junior academic ranks. This article argues that although gender equity, in terms of workload, has improved, inequality, in terms of pay and status, still exists. Specifically, while workload differences between genders were largely not evident, fewer women were employed in senior ranks. These results suggest, despite policy reforms, that inequity continues to be a problem in the Australian higher education sector with implications for the recognition (and addressing) of inequity in the global higher education industry. In summary, higher education institutions, senior policy-makers and managers must be cognizant of balancing teaching workloads with opportunities and support systems for research-related activities and directing human resource efforts and promotion opportunities.

The viral marketing metaphor explored through Vegemite

Purpose – Viral marketing draws heavily on the success of a few mythic campaigns. However, the viral metaphor limits previous perspectives as to why consumers engage with content and importantly, why they pass it on. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The authors explore why consumers engaged with Kraft’s “How do you love your Vegemite?” campaign using multiple sources of evidence including interviews, blog post comments, and firm market research. Findings – The choice to engage with content is driven by consumers’ desire for self-authentication, in particular the desire to express one’s identity through an authenticating act, and express membership of a collective via an authoritative performance. In so doing, the authors identify the limits of adopting an epidemiological metaphor for campaigns reliant on consumer agency. Originality/value – This study is unique because it proposes an alternative focus to a fundamental metaphor and has both conceptual and practical value.

At Risk Policy and Early Intervention Programmes for Underperforming Students: Ensuring Success?.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine a Universitys at risk program and ask is the intervention strategy working? The program seeks to assist at risk students who may be experiencing difficulties transitioning, for example from school into university. The program also seeks to identify problems and suggest remediation strategies before attrition.Design/methodology/approach – The effectiveness of the at risk programs is investigated across a population of at risk students from 2006 to 2010. Effectiveness is judged on the basis of outcomes in subsequent semesters where the Universitys preferred outcome is these students are not identified as at risk again.Findings – The authors have found that the program has some success in assisting students to improve their academic performance; though simply engaging in the process is not enough to ensure improvement. Other variables are at work. At risk students located in Melbourne appear to be far more likely to be at risk again than those in Singapore....

Information richness and trust in v-commerce: implications for services marketing

Purpose The potential for e-commerce is limited by a trust deficit when traders do not interact in a physical, bricks-and-mortar context. The theory of information richness posits that equivocal interactions, such as ones requiring trust, can be facilitated through communication media that transmit multiple cues interactively. This study aims to examine the potential of information-rich virtual worlds to reduce this trust deficit compared with more traditional Web-based e-tailing environments. Design/methodology/approach Rather than focusing on stated intentions, the authors adopt an experimental approach to measure behaviour. Participants receive performance-related financial incentives to perform trust games in different information-rich treatments that represent three retail environments: a physical environment representing bricks-and-mortar trade, an electronic environment representing Web-based online retailing and a virtual environment representing virtual world retail. Findings The authors find that the two dimensions of trust significantly differ between the treatments. In particular, as hypothesised, both trustingness and trustworthiness are higher in the virtual than in the electronic environment. However, contrary to the hypotheses, physical trade is not associated with greater trust than virtual trade. Research limitations/implications The authors extend previous research by demonstrating how the information richness of the virtual world interface can promote e-commerce by deepening trust between trading partners. This research also complements existing work that approaches product and service interfaces through the lens of servicescapes. Practical implications The findings also contribute towards the development of services marketing practice and the design of e-commerce environments. Originality/value Much of the work in this space considers purchase intentions and attitudes around trust, whereas this study looks at actual trust behaviour in the virtual space.

Assessing the quality of feedback in the peer-review process

The feedback provided to authors by reviewers as part of a double-blind peer-review process was examined for two Australian conferences, one special international edition book and six international special edition journals (originating in the UK). The research sought to identify consistency of decision-making and the effectiveness of feedback for authors, in terms of the amount written and the tone of comments. The recommendation of acceptance or rejection of papers under the peer-review process is generally consistent, with reviewers agreeing with each other more often than they disagree. The feedback provided is mostly constructive and designed to help authors with rewrites and resubmissions. However, the amount of written commentary provided by reviewers is limited and in one-third of cases, the reviewers disagreed with each other, which generates additional work for the trackchairs and editors. The findings suggest that while imperfect, the process requires policy and managerial changes if good-quality reviews are to be encouraged.

Towards a Typology of At-Risk Students: A Case Study in Singapore.

The purpose of this study is to examine at-risk students and the reasons they give to explain their poor academic performance, with a view to developing a typology of at-risk students. A case study methodology was used to investigate the total population of at-risk students for Semester 2, 2008 studying at the Singapore campus of an Australian-based university. Poor academic performance means that students are placed ‘at-risk’ of exclusion from the University if their grades do not significantly improve in subsequent semesters. The majority of students cite employment pressures (primarily work commitments interfering with study) and personal relationship difficulties (including divorce and family commitments) as the main causes of their at-risk status. Our findings may help universities implementing at-risk programmes reduce student attrition and better aid students in completing their degrees.

Sailing the seven C ' s of blog marketing: understanding social media and business impact

Purpose – Social media has transformed conventional marketing methods. This medium offers a unique blend of asynchronous communication, opportunities to co-create and customer empowerment far removed from traditional firm-to-consumer, push-vs-pull marketing messages. The purpose of this paper is to examine how a company developed long-term effective relationships and sales growth by using their blog to generate and enhance viral word-of-mouth message diffusion. Design/methodology/approach – The exploration of the blog includes analysis of both content and metrics for a real technology firm with an assumed name. Content and the ripples from blog posts were analysed to determine diffusion and use of messages. Findings – Seven critical success factors for utilising blog marketing to maximum effect are presented to firms considering a similar strategy. Suggestions for managerial implications are also presented. Research limitations/implications – There are two limitations, the focus on a single company which ...