John W. Vann

Perceived Risk and Information Sources Used by Wheelchair-Bound Consumers in Clothing Purchase Decisions

Disabled consumers confined to wheelchairs represent a special consumer group for clothing manufacturers and retailers. They have special clothing needs and may perceive different risks associated with clothing purchases than do able-bodied consumers. The purpose of this study was to examine information seeking behavior, types of perceived risk—economic, performance, physical, psychological, and social—and the relationship between information seeking and risk associated with clothing purchases of 75 wheelchair-bound consumers. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the five types of risk and overall risk and the relationship between types of risk and information sources used. Perceived physical risk ranked highest and perceived social risk ranked lowest for the respondents. Performance and social risk were significantly correlated with overall risk at the.05 level. However, the correlation of various types ofrisk with the use ofspecific information sources was not significant except for a negative correlation between social risk and neutral information sources. Information sources most often used by respondents were mail order catalogs and family members. Those with cogenital disability perceived higher overall risk than those with acquired disability.

Sustainability for the Americas: building the American network of sustainability consortia

Purpose – To build awareness of an emergent global network of sustainability consortia, the networks Sustainability for the Americas (SFTA) regional cluster, its pilot US‐Brazil Sustainability Consortium (USBSC), its subsequent North American Sustainability, Housing and Community Consortium (NASHCC), the process through which these consortia are emerging and evolving to sustained implementation, planned parallel academic and project funding tracks, and models, tools and techniques used for knowledge transfer. To build awareness of an emergent global sustainability network of multi‐national consortia of universities and non‐institutional partners created to promote sustainability and innovation that connects people, ideas, and resources for a sustainable future; and to invite people interested in multi‐national partnering to enter into a dialogue that can lead to emergence of a multi‐national consortium.Design/methodology/approach – The paper establishes the need for key universities to lead society to a ...

Public empowerment in managing local economic development: Achieving a desired quality of life profile

Abstract Marketing processes play an important role in socio-economic development for shaping and improving quality of life profiles of regions. The political-economy framework employed in this article is conducive to exploring the divergence of interests, information, objectives, or strategic positions among interest groups within a community that cause tensions in policy formation and implementation of marketing processes. This article explores organizational structures associated with this tension and with administering socio-economic development. In managing socio-economic change, suggestions for democratization through broader participation are made.

Job Opportunity Evaluation Matrix: Ability to Perform and Job Attractiveness:

and potentially negative outcomes. This paper demonstrates how an adaptation of an opportunity evaluation scheme used in business (Aaker, 1998) can be used by the job seeker. The evaluation scheme utilizes a two-dimensional matrix that simultaneously represents job attractiveness (JA) from the perspective of the job seeker and the job seeker’s ability to perform the job (ATP). This matrix simplifies the opportunity assessment process by combining multiple variables that determine job attractiveness and that determine ability to perform into one summary variable for each and then generates a recommended course of action for the job seeker based on the coordinates of