Petrus A.T.M. Geurts

The Impact of Web Experience on Virtual Buying Behaviour: An Empirical Study

This paper examines the effects and significance of various controllable marketing factors likely to influence the online consumers behaviour and buying decisions. The study is based on a proposed taxonomy of these factors, classified as elements of what is commonly called Online or Web Experience. n nThe paper analyses the results of a consumer survey held in a realistic online shopping environment and ascertains the influence of the various elements of the Online Experience on the choice of a virtual vendor. n nNext to evaluating and validating the various elements of the proposed classification the study identifies the relative importance of these elements and their effects on the online consumers decisions when acting in combination. The statistical analysis of the survey results leads to the conclusion that the usability and the trust-building elements of web sites are the most significant influencing factors of online customer behaviour.

Is Referendum the Same as Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation

The NOAA Panel on contingent valuation (Arrow et al. 1993) recommends that the valuation question be cast under the form of a referendum because of incentive properties and familiarity to the respondent. Even though the literature has generally accepted the panel recommendation, it is not clear whether explicitly mentioning a referendum leads to different values than asking a dichotomous (yes/no) question without mentioning any voting process. The results of our specifically designed contingent valuation survey indicate that the estimated willingness to pay is significantly larger when a referendum is explicitly mentioned. (JEL Q51)

Considering Leadership Climate Strength: Affective Commitment Within Supermarkets in Central Europe

Using data from 5,695 employees in 345 supermarkets in Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia, the authors examined whether leadership climate strength (LCS), defined as the shared perceptions of employees concerning their supervisors, is related to employees’ affective commitment (AC) to the supermarket and to colleagues. In addition, the authors examined if LCS moderates the relationship between the individual perceptions of the supervisor and AC. Two-level analyses (supermarket and employee) showed that LCS has an added effect for both foci of AC in that LSC strengthens the relationship between individual perceptions and AC to the supermarket.

Antecedents of perceived intra‐ and extra‐organisational alternatives

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore antecedents of perceived intra‐ and extra‐organisational alternatives among employees in the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 9,068 low‐educated supermarket employees at 360 supermarkets. LISREL analysis was employed.Findings – Age, job autonomy and organisation size predict both forms of perceived alternatives. Tenure appears to influence both forms of perceived alternatives positively. Job challenge and sex only predict perceived extra‐organisational alternatives. Unexpectedly, despite relatively high unemployment rates, the respondents perceive extra‐organisational alternatives.Research limitations/implications – Some of the antecedents of perceived alternatives identified in research among workers in Western societies seem to have a different or no impact on the perceived alternatives of employees in these countries. The study comprises only cross‐sectional data. In order to test caus...

The impact of the autonomy and interdependence of individual researchers on their production of knowledge and its impact: an empirical study of a nanotechnology institute

This article discusses how to organise and manage research to get the best performance out of researchers in terms of use of their produced knowledge. To this end we extended the strategic positioning theory developed to predict the level of the production of knowledge. The strategic positioning theory considers researchers as agents who reach their goals by collaboration, i.e. by sharing their resources. In this way researchers acknowledge being strategically interdependent with other researchers, while at the same time retaining some autonomy in taking decisions. As it turns out in a test on researchers of an institute for nanotechnology, the higher the interdependence and the better this is aligned with autonomy the higher the impact and citations of their produced knowledge. The theory explains largely the variance of the impact and citations of produced knowledge. It is concluded that researchers need to share resources to be highly performing: research management is advised to stimulate this sharing in combination with a commensurate degree of governance in directing research. Given specific domains and organisational conditions, the theory can serve as a tool in setting research programmes as it gives insight on which settings could and should be created by research managers or policy-makers. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.