Karin Braunsberger

Patient/enrollee satisfaction with healthcare and health plan

The findings of the present study show that healthier patients, older patients, males, those with a lower level of education, those who perceive system performance to be high and those with lower levels of system usage are more satisfied with both their healthcare and health plan than their opposite counterparts. Regarding the incremental effects of these variables, the most striking finding is the strong, pivotal role of physicians in influencing patient satisfaction with healthcare. In regard to satisfaction with health plan, the extent of the problems that members have had with their health plan has by far the largest statistical influence on their satisfaction with that plan. The effects of other independent variables including the three demographic variables, self‐stated health status, number of visits to doctor’s office or clinic, and issues related to access, though significant, show relatively small statistical influences on overall satisfaction with healthcare and health plan.

I believe therefore I care: The relationship between religiosity, environmental attitudes, and green product purchase in Mexico.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of intrinsic religious orientation (IRO) on environmental attitudes (EA) and green product purchases (GPP) in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses structural equation modeling to analyze the survey results of 242 consumers from Northern Mexico. Findings – The results of the study show a significant influence of EA on purchasing green products. In addition, the findings suggest that consumers with higher levels of IRO have a higher propensity to buy environmentally-friendly products, but do not show more favorable attitudes toward the environment than less-religious consumers. Research limitations/implications – The study relies on a convenience sample from Northern Mexico. Further, the study relies on self-reported measures of green product purchase (GPP) and future research should incorporate real purchases of green products in addition to self-reported measures. Practical implications – The findings of the study imply that ...

Developing inventories for satisfaction and Likert scales in a service environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to produce up‐to‐date inventories for satisfaction and Likert scales that contain commonly used scale point descriptors and their respective mean scale values and standard deviations.Design/methodology/approach – All data were collected online using the SSI Survey Spot Panel. This panel is national (USA) in scope. Thirty‐nine satisfaction items and 19 agreement items were tested on a random sample consisting of individuals 21‐65 years old.Findings – The mean value and the standard deviation were calculated for each of these descriptors. Even though only six of the items that had been tested by Jones and Thurstone (1955) were included in the list of satisfaction scale descriptors, the semantic meanings of those six have changed very little over the years.Research limitations/implications – One limitation might be that scale point descriptor inventories developed within the context of health insurance might not be valid in other service contexts.Practical implications ...

Dimensions of total product knowledge in a service environment

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to compare measures of subjective and objective knowledge as well as usage/experience measures in a credence service environment for two different samples, namely college students and non‐student adults.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from two independent samples using self‐administered questionnaires and were analyzed using correlation and reliability analyses, factor analysis, discriminant analysis and one‐way ANOVA.Findings – For the student sample, the results show that even though measures of subjective product knowledge, objective product knowledge, and product usage are correlated with one another, each represents one unique dimension of total product knowledge. The results for the non‐student sample show that subjective and objective knowledge converge into one dimension, product usage is a second dimension, and vicarious product knowledge a third dimension.Research limitations/implications – One limitation of the present study is that its re...

Evaluating the efficacy of credit card regulation

Purpose – In the USA, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) has adopted a final rule amending the Truth in Lending Acts Regulation Z, effective October 1, 2001. The present study aims to use the elaboration likelihood model to explore how consumers might respond to the revised credit card disclosure requirements, focusing specifically on college students.Design/methodology/approach – Each subject was randomly assigned to one of two financial scenarios and asked to choose, among competing offers, the credit card that presented the “best” match to the scenario. Subsequently, all subjects completed measures designed to test hypothesized relationships within the framework of the elaboration likelihood model.Findings – College students possess a fairly low level of knowledge of credit cards and thus are not very well equipped to make educated choices concerning such cards.Research limitations/implications – The use of a rural student sample is a limitation and future research should investigate different population...

Categorizing cognitive responses: An empirical investigation of the cognitive intent congruency between independent raters and original subject raters

Cognitive response coding is relevant for researchers who collect cognitive responses from individuals in the form of answers to open-ended questions or as thoughts produced while exposed to advertising messages. Coding of these cognitive responses is normally completed by a panel of two to four independent judges. This article is the first to empirically investigate cognitive intent congruence aspects underlining the data generated through cognitive response coding. The results show that there are definite gaps in the congruence of cognitive intent between the cognitive coding results that respondents, serving as cognitive response coders of their own thoughts, can provide and those cognitive response patterns provided by independent raters. The current study’s results raise a “yellow” caution flag regarding external independent raters’ ability to produce valid cognitive intent coding patterns that cannot be ignored by future researchers. The authors offer interpretation, implications, limitations, and directions for future research.

The founding of a nonprofit organization as a teaching/learning experience: A case study in service learning.

ABSTRACT The present case study describes how the founding, by faculty, of a nonprofit organization has aided marketing instructors (and instructors other disciplines) in teaching students to understand and apply marketing (and other business) theories in a “real-world” environment. To that end, the case study is organized as follows. First, it offers a short discussion on the pros and cons of working with for-profit versus nonprofit organizations to add value to the learning experience for students. Second, it describes the benefits and drawbacks instructors and/or students have experienced from starting their own nonprofit organization as a teaching or learning tool to help translate marketing theory into marketing application.

The Effect of Animal Protection Advertising on Opposition to the Slaughter of Wildlife and Willingness to Boycott the Offending Industry: Initial and Carryover Effects

During the last decade, concerns for both the welfare and rights of animals have moved into the mainstream (Severson 2007; Siebert 2010; Singer 2006). Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that we have observed an increase in the number of individuals who disapprove of all sport fishing, hunting, and trapping activities (Arlinghaus et al. 2012). The Canadian and Namibian seal hunts, for example, have been drawing growing criticism for years (Smith 2011; UPI 2012), as have the Japanese whale and dolphin hunts (McCurry 2009; Morell 2008).

Consumer Identities: Carnism Versus Veganism

“I hate when people are hostile about others ’ dietary choices! I have received a lot of stick for being a veggie, and it offends me sometimes. I would never dream of going up to a meat eater and just telling them that they are stupid or whatever, so I wish some people wouldn’t do that to me. ” Jen, Yahoo Group Discussion

Business Ethics: Characteristics of an (Un)Ethical Decision Maker

This study explores whether, and to what extent, a variety of factors (i.e., religiousness, locus of control, need for cognition, age, etc.) have an impact on the components of ethical decision-making, namely personal moral philosophies, perception of ethical problems, and ethical intentions. In order to test these relationships, the attitudes and values of undergraduate marketing students in four areas of the U.S. were assessed and compared. The findings indicate that several variables can be used to predict who makes what type of ethical decision and that the impact of these variables may be situationally driven.