Donald R. Self

Thrill seeking: the type T personality and extreme sports

The type T personality has been described by various psychologists as a thrill seeking or risk taking personality. One positive physical outlet for these thrill seeking tendencies is extreme sports, which are a form of deviance. As more participants become involved in various extreme sports, there is a clear formation of subcultures within the individual sports. While the formation of one subculture is often independent of the formation of the other extreme sports subcultures, there are marked similarities. This paper discusses the commonalities of several extreme sports subcultures and the relationship of their development to evolution of the sport.

Sensation Seekers as a Target Market for Volunteer Tourism

The purpose of this study was to determine if sensation seeking and consumer innovativeness are useful characteristics in identifying a productive target market for volunteer tourism offerings. Sensation seeking and consumer innovativeness are trait characteristics describing needs for new experiences, risk taking, simulation, and consumer willingness to integrating these needs into their consumption of products and services. Extreme sports enthusiasts, thought to be high sensation seekers, were surveyed. Chain-referral methods were used to recruit the sample. Findings indicate that respondents were high in sensation seeking and consumer innovativeness. Many also expressed a desire for future volunteer work. Findings indicate that respondents would be a potential target market for volunteer tourism experiences and suggest that certain individual traits can be useful in identifying other individuals that would be a productive target market for volunteer tourism offerings. A better understanding of the benefits this group desires can have implications for approaching this group. The area of volunteer tourism is relatively new and underresearched. Investigating whether or not high sensation seekers represent a potential market for volunteer tourism has not been previously researched.

The link between hospital quality and services profitability

Purpose – The paper aims to study the relationship between hospital quality and hospital profits for a sample of 88 Alabama hospitals.Design/methodology/approach – Quality is measured by three groups of procedures performed on newly admitted patients as suggested by the health quality alliance (HQA). Profit is measured for eight hospital services. Regression analyses tested the underlying relationships.Findings – Quality of care for newly admitted cardiac and pneumonia patients are indicators of quality translatable into profits. Given a choice between the two, the pneumonia procedures were more effective in predicting profits.Originality/value – As one of the early extensions of the HQA methodology, this paper does demonstrate linkages between quality and profits. Total number of employees was not significant, but governmental versus non‐governmental hospital analyses provide promise for future research.

Sensation Seekers as a Healthcare Marketing Metasegment

This article discusses “sensation seekers” as a market segment for communication and prevention programs for various lifestyle and/or risk-related health problem areas such as alcohol abuse, drug abuse, suicide attempts, and sexually transmitted diseases. Although sensation seekers tend to be creative, artistic individuals, they are also prone to various negative health behaviors and many population-based prevention programs have over-looked these individuals as an important target. Various inputs to sensation-seeking causation are explored, including biological/chemical, psychological, and the impact of external characteristics. Using a combination for regulatory focus and risk homeostasis, propositions are provided for improving the effectiveness of the communications. Recommendations for prevention efforts focusing on reaching this subculture using television, along with other electronic media are proposed, including recommendations for message construction and presentation venues.

Promotional Products: Adding Tangibility to Your Nonprofit Promotions

SUMMARY Promotional products have become a very important part of the promotional communication tools used by non-profits, with 2000 sales to the industry of almost

Alternative Quality Measures and Profitability of Hospital Inpatient Services Offered

500 million. The strengths and weaknesses of the medium are discussed and winning examples of various non-profit promotions in the areas of fundraising, donor recognition, organizational awareness, member recruitment, event promotion and behavior modification programs.

The Link Between Hospital Quality and Profitability of Outpatient Services Offered

In this analysis, we study the relationship between hospital quality and hospital profits for a sample of 88 Alabama (USA) hospitals. Quality is measured by three groups of procedures performed on newly admitted patients as suggested by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Health Quality Alliance (HQA) as well as a weighted quality measure. Profit is measured for eight hospital services. Profits from cardiac care were most responsive to the quality measures studied. Moreover, profits from six of the inpatient services increased as the weighted quality measure increased. Finally, in two cases quality increased with the relative number of employees a hospital utilized.

The Impact of Hospital Quality on Profits, Volume, and Length of Stay

The analysis studies the relationship between hospital quality and hospital profits for a sample of 94 Alabama hospitals. Quality is measured by four groups of procedures performed on newly-admitted patients as suggested by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Profit is measured for five outpatient services. We find that the quality of inpatient care predicts profits in three of the five outpatient services. We also find that the association is due primarily to an increase in outpatient volume in response to quality rather than to higher profit margins. The notable exception is for profit margins for cardiac and surgical care.

A model of strategic marketing alliances for hospices: horizontal alliances.

Using 2006–2007 data from a sample of 6,082 U.S. hospitals, quality of care measures developed by the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) are applied to heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgery. Quality of care for these was related to both higher profits per case and increased number of cases. Length of stay was inversely related to quality of care for preventative (surgical and heart attack) care.

Three Speech Communication Theories: Potential Tools for Selecting and Training of Salespersons

Abstract This article develops two previous research efforts. William J. Winston (1994,1995) has proposed a set of strategies by which health care organizations can benefit from forging strategic alliances. Raadt and Self (1997) have proposed a classification model of alliances including horizontal, vertical, internal and osmotic. In the first of two articles, this paper presents a model of horizontal alliances. The subsets include transregional, service mergers, networks, venture capital investments, trade and professional organizations, and promotional alliances. Advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed.