On the borders of sexuality research: young people who have sex with both males and females

As D' Augelli and Grossman point out, there is an underrepresentation in LGB research of "youth who have had sexual experiences with both males and females." Indeed, Heath (2005) refers to the "silent B" in much GLBT research. And, Owens (1998, p. 55) discusses how heterosexism "formalizes a societal dichotomy of heterosexuality versus homosexuality with little room for bisexuals" in educational research. Most of the information on bisexuality has been obtained from studies with adult samples, and it is "unclear to what extent a separate bisexual cultural identity is consolidated during adolescence" (Ryan & Rivers, 2003, p.105). As Bryan, a 17-year-old bisexual young man in my research, declared: "It's simple bullshit logic! They don't have evidence of bi kids in schools because they don't want to find it and so don't write their research looking for it."

Season-ticket holder satisfaction and sponsor-related behaviour: evidence of a positive relationship

Fan attention and response to sponsorship is affected by a range of variables, including the duration of sponsorship and fan commitment to the sporting organisation. The results of surveys of the members of six Australian Football League clubs indicated that there is a positive relationship between the satisfaction levels of season-ticket holders and their orientation towards club sponsors' products and brands.

Aspects of the ecology of swamp antechinus (Antechinus minimus maritimus) on a Bass Strait island

The swamp antechinus (Antechinus minimus maritimus) is a small insectivorous marsupial inhabiting closed heath and tussock grassland in south-eastern Australia. The species is considered 'Near Threatened' on the
Australian mainland. Populations persist on coastal islands off Wilsons Promontory, but their current status is unknown. This study investigated the density, diet and reproduction of the swamp antechinus on Kanowna Island.
Data were collected by live trapping in different vegetation types during four trips between August 2003 and January 2004. Higher animal densities (47-129 ha^-1) were found for Kanowna Island than for previously studied mainland populations (1-18 ha^-1). Examination ofscats showed that this species eats a wide variety ofprey types, with moth larvae a major dietary component, particularly during the breeding season. Births were estimated to have occurred between 28 June and 8 August, which is a longer period than reported for other populations of this species. Factors including reduced predation, restricted dispersal and increased food availability may be responsible for supporting this dense population.

Using the juster scale to predict adoption of an innovative product

The Juster scale - a simple, self-reported measure of purchase probability, has been shown to be effective in predicting consumers' future purchasing behaviours. Purchase probability scales have often been shown to be better predictors of future behaviour than purchase intentions measures, the more widely used method. The vast majority of studies though have used the scale to predict the purchase of products or services the consumer is already familiar with. This research looks at how accurately the Juster scale can predict early adoption of an innovative new product prior to its’ launch. In a longitudinal study of market behaviour, these predictions are compared to actual adoption rates. The results show that there is only a moderate level of correlation between purchase probability scores and actual adoption behaviour, in both the short and long term, but they are better than intention measures. The main difficulty in predicting adoption behaviour seems to stem from consumers inability to foresee intervening situational factors, rather than inaccuracies in the probability scale itself.

Entrepreneurship in the markets of nonprofit performing arts organisations

This paper explores how managers in nonprofit performing arts organizations balance the interests of the various funding sources and market opportunities to service their revenue requirements. It reviews a tension in nonprofit performing arts organizations: the relationship between limited funding and the subsequent need to act entrepreneurially and innovatively amongst the various funding sources. Using a longitudinal analysis of annual reports in six major nonprofit performing arts organisations in Australia since 1975, the paper uncovers some of the interplay essential to entrepreneurship. From this discussion, different strategies and tensions are highlighted that nonprofit general managers have used. Comparisons are made with nonprofit art museums which previous research has shown have the same funding tensions.

Pricing segmentation and MBA course choice

The consensus from studies of the price-demand relationship for higher education is that this relationship is negative but small. This paper investigates the circumstances in which demand for an MBA is positive to price increases. A survey of currently enrolled MBA students, and prospective MBA students, found that most students displayed the expected price elasticity in a conjoint analysis of hypothetical MBA course ratings. However, 12 per cent of respondents exhibited “reversal” behaviour regarding price. Profiling these respondents using discriminant analysis suggested that “reversals” seemed prepared to pay more for a course at a high prestige university, if they could study off-campus using print-based materials.

Online and postal data collection methods: a comparative study

Computer-mediated marketing research has been enthusiastically embraced by marketing organisations and those servicing them, for many reasons. While researchers using the Internet (Net) and World Wide Web (Web) in its early years reported benefits such as high response levels, there are now issues in this regard. This paper reports on the outcomes of a probabilistic study involving football club members (subscribers) involving both postal and online (e-mail invitation and HTML Web form) data collection methods. The paper reports differences in both the response pattern and demographic profile of respondents between the groups such as to warrant further examination of the methods used in online marketing research, and to suggest the need for further study.

Redefining brand salience using memory theory and implications for measurement

The concept of brand salience, or brand accessibility in memory, has been prevalent in the area of brand research for several decades. Brand salience has been driven by memory theory and psychological research, but debate has continued over the structure of memory systems, the way in which consumers undertake memory search, and what they do with brand information once it is retrieved. With the rise to prominence of brand equity, brand salience has been subsumed into the awareness category, as an operationalisation of recalling information. This paper looks at redefining brand salience and proposes new methods for measuring brand salience.

Differentiate or die or be 'stuck in the middle' and survive!

“The reality is that traditional (marketing) implementation approaches have failed…” (Dobni et al., 2001, p. 402) Nevertheless recent research still seeks to identify relationships between Porter’s marketing strategies, implementation and performance (Kumar et al. 1997; Teach and Schwartz, 2000). Although each study included the Porter’s strategy types none actually classified business units into ideal differentiators, ideal cost leaders and combination differentiation cost leaders to conduct “implementation-performance process” comparisons.

This study has made a contribution to the study of marketing implementation and marketing performance by separating and comparing strategies such as ideal differentiation, ideal cost leadership, and combination (differentiation/cost leadership) strategies with the “stuck in the middle” marketing strategy type.

A key implementation finding was the importance of paying high salaries to attract the best employees when implementing either a differentiation strategy or a combined (differentiation/ cost leadership) strategy. However for the other six implementation tools, the findings support Kelliher and Perrett (2001, p.421) whose findings “do not indicate a clear relationship between business strategy and the approach to HRM.”

A key performance finding was that differentiation is the best strategy in terms of marketing performance while cost leadership is the worst performing strategy. Both differentiation and the combination strategy (differentiation/cost leadership) outperformed cost leadership.

The dimensions of self-service technologies and the relation to 'self'

This paper assesses the “behavioural” notion of “self” across the various dimensions of self-service technologies (SSTs). In the context of SSTs, it is acknowledged that the customer role is extended to include that of “service employee”. Therefore, the authors propose the need to explore this new role, from the customer’s perspective, across a diverse range of SSTs. This proposition is supported in that prior research has looked generally across a broad range of SSTs, as opposed to drawing comparisons across the different types of SSTs. In bringing together two classification schemes of SSTs, which does not appear to have been done previously, the authors draw on past research and industry examples to explore the customer experience across different categories of SSTs. It is proposed that the dimensions of SSTs, including level of customer participation as influenced by the purpose of the SST, location of the SST, and type of technology employed, will uniquely influence the notion of “self”, and thus the customer’s SST experience. These propositions have implications for both future research and practice. Future research is needed to study empirically the characteristics of specific SSTs, and compare the many different types of SSTs, and how their unique characteristics influence the customer’s production/consumption experience. When marketers gain a better understanding of the dimensions of individual SSTs, and their influence on the customer, more effective management and use of SSTs will result.

An empirical investigation of high relational orientation sport club members

Relationships between businesses, businesses and end customers, as well as between customers are an important area of practical and scientific interest. In the present era, largely due to digital technologies such as the database, public and private networks, and data collection and information distribution via TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) interface tools such as the World Wide Web (Web), the interest in relationships and related aspects such as trust as it relates to Web interactivity continues. An important antecedent empirical study established that arts patrons (customers) of a New York theatre company could be segmented according to their relational orientation, and that this orientation mediated between component attitudes and future purchase intentions. The study reported in this paper employs Web-based data collection and postal data collection methods in an investigation of the mediation effects of these data collection methods used with the same population of a premier football club in Australia. While a future aim is to more closely compare the outcomes established in the arts study with those from a similarly constructed study in the sporting arena, the focus of this initial paper is the differences in response exhibited by online respondents relative to postal survey respondents. The paper reports findings which do not support those of the antecedent arts and entertainment study concerning the weakness of overall satisfaction on the purchase intentions of high relational orientation customers. The paper also reports findings which give confidence to users of online surveys that despite differences in demographic profiles of these respondents and postal survey respondents, there is a degree of similarity in the responses of the two groups on the measures used in this study. The paper also suggests the need for further research into these data collection effects as they relate to relationship marketing.

Explaining non-renewal behaviour : an empirical investigation of recently lapsed NRL club members

This paper reports on a survey of lapsed members of an Australian professional National Rugby League (NRL) Club. Analysis of the 195 useable responses returned suggest that these lapsed members had originally joined as much for intangible aspects, such as seeking a greater level of involvement with the club, as for the functional aspects such as savings on game entry. Overall, these lapsed members were satisfied with the service they received whilst a member, and claimed it had been performed in line with expectations. The main drivers of satisfaction were also a mix of tangible and intangible factors such as feeling valued by the club and receiving discounts on entry costs. The members gave a number of reasons for not rejoining in 2002, but primarily cited an inability to attend games. Despite joining for intangible reasons, it seems that if these members could not get to games, they perceived that membership was not worth maintaining. That said, a large number of members indicated that as their circumstances change they will rejoin the club, supporting the theory that non-renewal is not driven by service failure, but rather the perception that attendance is still the core product (entertainment). The overall level of satisfaction had a weak but positive relationship with the likelihood of members rejoining in the future.

The effect of attitudes and experience on respondent answers to demographic questions in on-line surveys

Survey response rates and response quality are declining in most markets, threatening the viability of many established research techniques. One attempt to combat this has been to make survey completion more convenient for respondents, with on-line surveys being an example of this. This paper looks at respondent attitudes to demographic questions in on-line surveys – questions that are crucial for many analysis practices and yet often have the highest non-completion rates. The exploratory survey conducted here (n=198) examined attitudes towards surveys and empirically examined the reasons behind non-completion and intentions to give misleading information. The results suggest that general attitudes towards providing demographic data in on-line surveys are related to the likely response behaviour, and the more uncomfortable someone claims to be with providing this data, the more likely they will be to either omit a response or exit the survey altogether. Past experience with on-line surveys increases the chances of respondents answering completely and accurately and in most cases, significantly reduces the likelihood of exiting the survey completely if asked these questions. Finally, there is some evidence that providing broad categorical response options is preferred to more specific categories or open text boxes, and this may represent the best technique for improving response rates and quality.