Donald J. Hempel

Citizen Preferences for Housing as Community Social Indicators

The emerging demand for policy-relevant social information represents an exciting multidisciplinary challenge to develop a system of empirically derived social indicators. A review of the social indicators literature suggests that while much of the research has been directed at deriving aggregate, objective measures, there is a need for studies that focus on both objective and subjective measures at the community level. Three community field studies are presented that operationalize the social indicator dimension of housing quality through an empirical analysis of the home-buying process. The results were analyzed by principal-component analysis and chi-square tests. The findings indicate that significant differences exist between husbands and wives on a number of perceived housing quality attributes within each sample. Comparisons across samples show that measures of salience also differ on factors such as lot size, distance to churches, similarity of neighbors, and appearance and value of nearby homes. Information on perceived housing quality and other social indicators dimensions at the local level creates an opportunity for both private and public decision makers to better respond to social change.

Project selection A process analysis

Abstract Technology-oriented companies involved in rapidly changing markets are interested in the value of collaborative efforts aimed at the realization of shared benefits, while spreading the costs and risks across multiple partners. The experiences and insights of participants in such ventures can contribute to the understanding of how to build more productive alliances. This study examines the project evaluation processes employed by the most successful industry–university research centers sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The delivery of highly satisfying research programs, as indicated by the industrial representatives, is defined as being successful. This paper focuses on the process management issues involved in the formulation and evaluation of research proposals, structural advantages and liabilities associated with the process, as well as the conditions/contexts that favor their application. These processes are strategically significant because they define the organizations research agenda, focus resource allocations by linking capabilities and commitments, and frame the performance assessment process.

House Buying Behavior: An Empirical Study in Cross‐Cultural Buyer Behavior

Some preliminary findings concerning experience, motivation, and search are presented from a cross-cultural study of buyer behavior in housing markets. Data were obtained from probability samples of 652 households in Connecticut and Northwest England. The results include comparative analyses of several dimensions of external search, five aspects of experience, reasons for moving, and husband-wife reasons for buying. Predictive models of search are developed with multivariate regression techniques. The findings indicate that the experience and motivational variables are not very powerful predictors of search. Significant cultural differences do occur in the level of many variables, but there are some interesting similarities in the underlying factor structure. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Vertical performance management: Strategic implications for financial service

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between productivity and customer satisfaction in marketing consumer services. It presents a conceptual framework that highlights four dimensions of productivity measurement: capacity, perceived quality, profitability, and satisfaction. One of the more distinctive aspects of this presentation is its analysis of productivity from the dual perspectives of both the customer and the service provider. A preliminary formulation of the productivity model emphasizes the high degree of interaction between the evaluation of performance from these two perspectives. A recent service innovation in the area of electronic funds transfer illustrates this framework.