Lawrence R. Lepisto

Analysis of the healthy lifestyle consumer

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the healthy lifestyle consumer by examining demographic, personal value and psychographic antecedents.Design/methodology/approach – A cluster analysis was used to divide consumers into healthy and unhealthy lifestyle segments based on their diet and exercise behavior. A logistic regression analysis was then run on these segments to test the impact of 17 hypothesized antecedents.Findings – Results indicate that people who maintain a healthy lifestyle tend to be female, older, more educated, place less importance on the value of “excitement”, have a greater tendency to plan ahead and tend to experience less role overload.Research limitations/implications – One limitation is that the response rate of the mail survey used to collect data was only 28.8 percent. Another limitation was that the specific types of diet and exercise behavior used to classify respondents into clusters did not encompass the full range of diet and exercise option...

Applying work-role attachment theory to retirement decision-making.

This study examined the relationships between work-role attachment variables (job involvement, affective organizational commitment, and career identification) and intention to retire. Results indicated that organizational commitment was negatively related to retirement intent. Contrary to expectations, job involvement displayed a positive relationship and career identification had no relationship to retirement intent.

Consumer Complaint Behavior Manifestations for Table Service Restaurants: Identifying Sociodemographic Characteristics, Personality, and Behavioral Factors

For restaurants to be assured that they are achieving customer satisfaction, they need to receive feedback from their customers. One way customers give feedback is by complaining. Using the Adult Longitudinal Panel, three types of consumer complaint behavior for table service restaurant customers were determined: not likely to complain, complain-to-anyone complainers, and word-of-mouth (WOM) complainers. WOM complainers present the greatest challenge because management does not hear their complaints, but complainers spread negative WOM. Cross-tabs of sociodemographic characteristics differentiated these individuals as baby boomers with children. However, these characteristics do not provide the full profile. Further analysis using multiple discriminant analysis identified personality and behavioral factors that distinguish WOM complainers from other types of restaurant customers. The results show these individuals to be under greater psychological stress than those in the other two groups, as well as less price conscious and less susceptible to interpersonal influence than complain-to-anyone complainers.

Marketing Curriculum Development: Model and Application

Curriculum review has always been a critical task in education, especially in a dynamic discipline like marketing. Because this problem will become even more critical in the future due to demographic changes and rising accreditation standards in universities, new methods of reviewing curriculum need to be explored. For this reason, a model was designed that can be applied to any marketing program to systematically guide the development or the review of a curriculum. The model does not provide simplistic answers, but a comprehensive process. In addition, the model can be re-applied to insure that the curriculum matches the growth of the discipline, faculty, and the institution.

The Effect of Multiple Measures of Age In Segmenting Hotel Markets

In the past decade, the hotel industry has found segmentation strategies to be critical to remaining competitive in increasingly fragmented markets. The chronological age of a segment is a commonly used variable in defining market segments. The consumer behavior literature suggests several approaches as alternatives to chronological age. These age measures assess how old a person feels and functions or how old they would like to be. This paper reports on a national study that determines the effectiveness of six age measures on their ability to aid in the segmentation of the markets of seven types of hotel/motel concepts.

Is Six Sigma culture bound? A conceptual model and propositions for further inquiry

Six Sigma has been developed and refined by American companies in an American culture. As such, it is based on American values and behaviours. This paper suggests that applying Six Sigma in other national cultures may find discrepancies between their cultural values and behaviours and the assumptions of how the Six Sigma process improvement methodology is to be implemented. A conceptual model utilising Hofstedes cultural dimensions is proposed to examine the potential national cultural impact at each stage of the Six Sigma process. Examples of cultural disparities in the Six Sigma methodology are presented utilising Hofstedes dimensions.

Purchase constraint analysis: An alternative perspective for marketers

The task of the marketer is to facilitate the exchange with consumers. This exchange process can be inhibited if consumers face constraints to the purchase. The focus of the marketer should be not only product attributes but also any constraining factors in the purchase environment. This article provides a framework to identify and discuss these purchase constraints. The constraints facing the consumer could be: marketing, cultural, social, personal, or structural constraints. In addition to the traditional dichotomy of controllable and uncontrollable constraints, it is suggested there are constraints that may not be uncontrollable but may be semicontrollable. A purchase constraint matrix is constructed to outline the constraints and is followed by the implications to marketing managers and researcher.

Using the socio-economic approach to management to augment Lean Six Sigma

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to present a framework and a case that delineates the coordinated use of the socio-economic approach to management (SEAM) and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) to facilitate operational change. Design/methodology/approach - – This study uses action research and thematic analysis to explore the augmentation of existing process improvement and organizational assessment methodologies in a production environment. Findings - – Organizations are under increasing pressure to improve all aspects of business. Project leaders and consultants often follow popular quantitatively oriented protocols like LSS to evaluate explicit operational processes. Including a qualitatively oriented protocol like SEAM expands the project leader’s capability through greater consideration of implicit organizational issues. This paper presents a case where LSS was complemented by SEAM to assess a process that was entangled with several latent organizational dysfunctions. Practical implications - – SEAM and LSS are accepted protocols to facilitate process improvement and organizational change. Pairing the two protocols into a SEAM-LSS model offers the strengths of each approach, while compensating for the limitations of each. The result is a more inclusive change protocol that reduces potential oversights and inefficiencies that could occur if project leaders worked within the purview of only one methodology. Originality/value - – This paper uses action research to propose a model to bring qualitative and quantitative methodologies together into a larger complementary framework to use when evaluating organizational problems and opportunities. This paper aims to stimulate discussion and research that would lead to more robust process improvement protocols.

A Longitudinal Study of Work After Retirement: Examining Predictors of Bridge Employment, Continued Career Employment, and Retirement

Older employees are increasingly accepting bridge employment, which occurs when older workers take employment for pay after they retire from their main career. This study examined predictors of workers’ decisions to engage in bridge employment versus full retirement and career employment. A national sample of 482 older people in the United States was surveyed regarding various work-related and nonwork related predictors of retirement decisions, and their retirement status was measured 5 years later. In bivariate analyses, both work-related variables (career goal achievement and experienced pressure to retire) and nonwork-related variables (psychological distress and traditional gender role orientation) predicted taking bridge employment, but in multinomial logistic regression, only nonwork variables had unique effects. Few predictors differentiated the bridge employed and fully retired groups. Nonwork variables were salient in making the decision to retire, and bridge employment may be conceptually more similar to full retirement than to career employment.

Developing an Alumni Relations Program for a Marketing Department

Alumni relations is a frequently neglected facet of a marketing educational program. This article outlines the role of alumni relations in a marketing program, suggests the objectives and activities of an alumni relations program, presents the results of such a program at one institution, and suggests some cautionary notes to departments considering such a program.