Sustainable knowledge management systems: integration, personalisation and contextualisation

Many knowledge management (KM) systems have proven unsustainable to date, exhibiting low quantities and quality of knowledge, with systems falling into disuse. In this paper, we provide and explore a model for sustainable KM systems, focusing on the advantages to be gained from integrating knowledge work with everyday work practices, and enabling sensemaking through personalisation and contextualisation. We employ a discourse analysis of email as an exemplar of a sustainable KM system, thereby identifying a number of key characteristics for sustainable KM systems. Our model for sustainable KM systems adds to existing KM theory and, more immediately, assists companies by providing an understanding
of the kinds of characteristics likely to make KM systems more effective, and sustainable in the long term.

Effect of questionnaire length, personalisation and reminder type on response rate to a complex postal survey : randomised controlled trial

Background: Minimising participant non-response in postal surveys helps to maximise the generalisability of the inferences made from the data collected. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of questionnaire length, personalisation and reminder type on postal survey response rate and quality and to compare the costeffectiveness of the alternative survey strategies.
Methods: In a pilot study for a population study of travel behaviour, physical activity and the environment, 1000 participants sampled from the UK edited electoral register were randomly allocated using a 2 × 2 factorial design to receive one of four survey packs: a personally addressed long (24 page) questionnaire pack, a personally addressed short (15 page) questionnaire pack, a non-personally addressed long questionnaire pack or a nonpersonally addressed short questionnaire pack. Those who did not return a questionnaire were stratified by initial randomisation group and further randomised to receive either a full reminder pack or a reminder postcard. The effects of the survey design factors on response were examined using multivariate logistic regression.
Results: An overall response rate of 17% was achieved. Participants who received the short version of the questionnaire were more likely to respond (OR = 1.48, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.07). In those participants who received a reminder, personalisation of the survey pack and reminder also increased the odds of response (OR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.95). Item non-response was relatively low, but was significantly higher in the long questionnaire than the short (9.8% vs 5.8%; p = .04). The cost per additional usable questionnaire returned of issuing the reminder packs was £23.1 compared with £11.3 for the reminder postcards.
Conclusions: In contrast to some previous studies of shorter questionnaires, this trial found that shortening a relatively lengthy questionnaire significantly increased the response. Researchers should consider the trade off between the value of additional questions and a larger sample. If low response rates are expected, personalisation may be an important strategy to apply. Sending a full reminder pack to non-respondents appears a worthwhile, albeit more costly, strategy.

Practitioner prognostications on the future of online marketing

In arguably the most dynamic period in the history of marketing, and in particular the management of marketing communication, the challenges and opportunities presented by online marketing are both immense and unprecedented. In an effort to understand how these challenges are perceived at the ‘coal face’, this paper solicits and longitudinally compares senior marketing practitioners’ perceptions and perspectives, both recently (late 2008) and five years prior (2003). Due to the rapid evolution of online marketing and its impact on both consumer behaviour and marketing strategy, a longitudinal qualitative research design was employed to track changes in senior marketers’ perceptions. Findings are presented and discussed within the context of six recurring themes: interactivity, personalisation, integration, evaluation, agency structures, and capabilities. The paper concludes by examining the utility of integrated marketing communication as a marketing management framework for online marketing strategy.

Individually tailored client-focused reports for ubiquitous devices : an experimental analysis

We describe results of a test of a method for tailoring communications based on the recipient’s preferred information processing style and dominant motivational attitude. Results indicate that the greater the match between the style of the report and the individual’s attributes, the more informed the reader feels about the subject of the report. This research has been conducted as part of a study into methods to design patient-centred medical using diabetic patients as an exemplar of chronic disease. The long term aim is to use reports personalised to the recipient to better inform patients about their disease and strengthen their motivation to follow the treatment plan.

How do consumers co-create their experiences? An exploration in the heritage sector

Whilst the body of work around co-creation has grown, co-creation continues to be considered from a value perspective with key questions, such as what is actually being co-created, remaining unanswered. This article moves beyond value to experiences and explores co-creation of the consumption experience. The research examines the manifestations and antecedents of co-creation of the consumption experience from a consumer angle and presents a co-creation framework. Customer critic analysis with consumers from two exemplar heritage organisations is used to investigate co-creation. The findings illuminate three facets of co-creation: co- production, engagement, and personalisation. This paper addresses a gap in Service- Dominant Logic theory, arts/heritage, and broader marketing literature by distinguishing between co-creation of value and co-creation of the consumption experience and proposing a definitive conceptualisation of the latter. The proposed model progresses the co-creation discussion to an empirical level and provides a foundation for future research.

A systematic narrative review of consumer-directed care for older people: implications for model development

Consumer-directed care is increasingly becoming a mainstream option in community-based aged care. However, a systematic review describing how the current evaluation research translates into practise has not been published to date. This review aimed to systematically establish an evidence base of user preferences for and satisfaction with services associated with consumer-directed care programmes for older people. Twelve databases were searched, including MedLine, BioMed Central, Cinahl, Expanded Academic ASAP, PsychInfo, ProQuest, Age Line, Science Direct, Social Citation Index, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library. Google Scholar and Google were also searched. Eligible studies were those reporting on choice, user preferences and service satisfaction outcomes regarding a programme or model of home-based care in the United States or United Kingdom. This systematic narrative review retrieved literature published from January 1992 to August 2011. A total of 277 references were identified. Of these 17 met the selection criteria and were reviewed. Findings indicate that older people report varying preferences for consumer-directed care with some demonstrating limited interest. Clients and carers reported good service satisfaction. However, research comparing user preferences across countries or investigating how ecological factors shape user preferences has received limited attention. Policy-makers and practitioners need to carefully consider the diverse contexts, needs and preferences of older adults in adopting consumer-directed care approaches in community aged care. The review calls for the development of consumer-directed care programmes offering a broad range of options that allow for personalisation and greater control over services without necessarily transferring the responsibility for administrative responsibilities to service users. Review findings suggest that consumer-directed care approaches have the potential to empower older people.

Practitioner prognostications on the future of online marketing

In arguably the most dynamic period in the history of marketing, and in particular the management of marketing communication, the challenges and opportunities presented by online marketing are both immense and unprecedented. In an effort to understand how these challenges are perceived at the ‘coal face’, this paper solicits and longitudinally compares senior marketing practitioners' perceptions and perspectives, both recently (late 2008) and five years prior (2003). Due to the rapid evolution of online marketing and its impact on both consumer behaviour and marketing strategy, a longitudinal qualitative research design was employed to track changes in senior marketers' perceptions. Findings are presented and discussed within the context of six recurring themes: interactivity, personalisation, integration, evaluation, agency structures, and capabilities. The paper concludes by examining the utility of integrated marketing communication as a marketing management framework for online marketing strategy.

Innovation in medical tourism service marketing: A case of India

© 2015, IGI Global. The aim of this chapter is to critically examine the latest development of medical tourism as an innovation in India. The existing theories and concepts in medical tourism are reviewed and synthesised in order to lay down a foundation for marketing managers to deploy marketing mix strategies to deliver values to the medical tourists. A secondary research method is adapted to gather relevant literature. This chapter not only provides a background introduction to the growing importance of the medical tourism industry to the Indian economy, but also makes major contributions: firstly, that global healthcare service marketing is quite different from marketing of other services and goods. Secondly, it proposes to examine the application of 8Ps of tourism marketing-mix along with another 6Ps, such as personalisation of healthcare, publication for patient, patient packaging, patient education, patient privacy, and patient medical and cultural sensitivities for effective marketing of the popular Indian wellness and medical tourism destinations, super-speciality hospitals, and complex diagnostic tests and surgeries to the world.

Nonparametric discovery and analysis of learning patterns and autism subgroups from therapeutic data

The spectrum nature and heterogeneity within autism spectrum disorders (ASD) pose as a challenge for treatment. Personalisation of syllabus for children with ASD can improve the efficacy of learning by adjusting the number of opportunities and deciding the course of syllabus. We research the data-motivated approach in an attempt to disentangle this heterogeneity for personalisation of syllabus. With the help of technology and a structured syllabus, collecting data while a child with ASD masters the skills is made possible. The performance data collected are, however, growing and contain missing elements based on the pace and the course each child takes while navigating through the syllabus. Bayesian nonparametric methods are known for automatically discovering the number of latent components and their parameters when the model involves higher complexity. We propose a nonparametric Bayesian matrix factorisation model that discovers learning patterns and the way participants associate with them. Our model is built upon the linear Poisson gamma model (LPGM) with an Indian buffet process prior and extended to incorporate data with missing elements. In this paper, for the first time we have presented learning patterns deduced automatically from data mining and machine learning methods using intervention data recorded for over 500 children with ASD. We compare the results with non-negative matrix factorisation and K-means, which being parametric, not only require us to specify the number of learning patterns in advance, but also do not have a principle approach to deal with missing data. The F1 score observed over varying degree of similarity measure (Jaccard Index) suggests that LPGM yields the best outcome. By observing these patterns with additional knowledge regarding the syllabus it may be possible to observe the progress and dynamically modify the syllabus for improved learning.