Psychological bonds and their impact on behavioral loyalty in auditor-client relationships

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the psychological bond on behavioral loyalty (word-of-mouth, continuance and non-audit services) to audit firms providing services to companies listed on the Polish Stock Exchange. Design/methodology/approach – A model is proposed and tested using structural equation modeling with LISREL. Data were collected from top executives of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Findings – The psychological bond has a positive effect on word-of-mouth, continuance and non-audit services. Research limitations/implications – The current research is limited to the investigation of the psychological bond as an antecedent of behavioral loyalty in Poland. Future research should identify and assess other antecedents and replicate these across different countries. A longitudinal survey across different points in time might reveal more useful information about auditor-client relationships. Practical implications – Auditors need to consider ways in which they can develop the psychological bond with their clients. This bond is the basis for the client believing the audit firm is superior to others, which has been found to lead to behavioral loyalty in this study. In particular, management of the auditor brand and reputation, personal experience of the audit firm and alumni relations are discussed as ways of enhancing the psychological bond among client executives. Originality/value – This study is the first to examine the impact of the psychological bond on behavioral loyalty in auditor-client relationships.

Shear bond strengths of glass-ionomer cements to sound and to prepared carious dentine

The aim of this study was determine whether bonding of glass-ionomer cements to non-carious dentine differed from that to carious dentine. Five commercial cements were used, namely Fuji IX GP, Fuji IX capsulated, Fuji IX Fast capsulated (all GC, Japan), Ketac-Molar and Ketac-Molar Aplicap (both 3M-ESPE, Germany). Following conditioning of the substrate with 10% poly (acrylic acid) for 10 s, sets of 10 samples of the cements were bonded to prepared teeth that had been removed for orthodontic reasons. The teeth used had either sound dentine or sclerotic dentine. Shear bond strengths were determined following 24 h storage. For the auto-mixed cements, shear bond strength to sound dentine was found not to differ statistically from shear bond strength to sclerotic dentine whereas for hand-mixed cements, shear bond to sound dentine was found to be higher than to carious dentine (to at least p < 0.05). This shows that the chemical effects arising from interactions of glass-ionomer cements with the mineral phase of the tooth are the most important in developing strong bonds, at least in the shorter term.

Factors That Can Undermine the Psychological Benefits of Coastal Environments: Exploring the Effect of Tidal State, Presence, and Type of Litter

The beneficial effects of blue environments have been well documented; however, we do not know how marine litter might modify these effects. Three studies adopted a picture-rating task to examine the influence of litter on preference, perceived restorative quality, and psychological impacts. Photographs varied the presence of marine litter (Study 1) and the type of litter (Studies 2 and 3). The influence of tide and the role of connectedness were also explored. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, it was shown that litter can undermine the psychological benefits that the coast ordinarily provides, thus demonstrating that, in addition to environmental costs of marine litter, there are also costs to people. Litter stemming from the public had the most negative impact. This research extends our understanding of the psychological benefits from natural coastal environments and the threats to these benefits from abundant and increasing marine litter

Behavioural and psychological syndromes in Alzheimer's disease

The origins of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia are still poorly understood. By focusing on piecemeal behaviours as opposed to more robust syndrome change valid biological correlates may be overlooked. Our understanding of BPSD via the identification of neuropsychiatric syndromes.

Providing psychological services for people with diabetes

Previous research and service development guidelines have highlighted the importance of psychological issues in diabetes care, and both people with diabetes and diabetes professionals recognise the need for specialist psychological input. This article outlines the development of a service delivery model for psychological services in diabetes care, based on a patient needs assessment and the advice of diabetes professionals. This involved an assessment of the psychological needs of people with diabetes within an urban Health Trust in Northern Ireland, and the collation of the views of local diabetes professionals. Questionnaires to assess for depression, anxiety, binge eating behaviour and diabetes-specific worries were completed by 300 people with diabetes. The participants were accessed through both primary and secondary care diabetes teams. As expected, a high level of psychological distress relative to population norms was illustrated by the patient needs assessment. Particularly high levels of binge eating behaviour were reported, and levels of distress were higher for community-managed patients than for hospital-managed patients. The diabetes professionals unanimously agreed that there is a need for specialist psychological input and contributed to the service delivery model which is outlined in this article.