When Consumption Embraces Faith: How Religious Beliefs and Practices Influence Consumption

Marketers have long looked for observables that could explain differences in consumer behavior. Initial attempts have centered on demographic factors, such as age, gender, and race. Although such variables are able to provide some useful information for segmentation (Bass, Tigert, and Longdale 1968), more recent studies have shown that variables that tap into consumers’ social classes and personal values have more predictive accuracy and also provide deeper insights into consumer behavior. I argue that one demographic construct, religion, merits further consideration as a factor that has a profound impact on consumer behavior. In this dissertation, I focus on two types of religious guidance that may influence consumer behaviors: religious teachings (being content with one’s belongings), and religious problem-solving styles (reliance on God).

Essay 1 focuses on the well-established endowment effect and introduces a new moderator (religious teachings on contentment) that influences both owner and buyers’ pricing behaviors. Through fifteen experiments, I demonstrate that when people are primed with religion or characterized by stronger religious beliefs, they tend to value their belongings more than people who are not primed with religion or who have weaker religious beliefs. These effects are caused by religious teachings on being content with one’s belongings, which lead to the overvaluation of one’s own possessions.

Essay 2 focuses on self-control behaviors, specifically healthy eating, and introduces a new moderator (God’s role in the decision-making process) that determines the relationship between religiosity and the healthiness of food choices. My findings demonstrate that consumers who indicate that they defer to God in their decision-making make unhealthier food choices as their religiosity increases. The opposite is true for consumers who rely entirely on themselves. Importantly, this relationship is mediated by the consumer’s consideration of future consequences. This essay provides an explanation to the existing mixed findings on the relationship between religiosity and obesity.

ASSESSING QUALITY IN HIGH-UNCERTAINTY MARKETS: ONLINE REVIEWS OF CREDENCE SERVICES

In economics of information theory, credence products are those whose quality is difficult or impossible for consumers to assess, even after they have consumed the product (Darby & Karni, 1973). This dissertation is focused on the content, consumer perception, and power of online reviews for credence services. Economics of information theory has long assumed, without empirical confirmation, that consumers will discount the credibility of claims about credence quality attributes. The same theories predict that because credence services are by definition obscure to the consumer, reviews of credence services are incapable of signaling quality. Our research aims to question these assumptions. In the first essay we examine how the content and structure of online reviews of credence services systematically differ from the content and structure of reviews of experience services and how consumers judge these differences. We have found that online reviews of credence services have either less important or less credible content than reviews of experience services and that consumers do discount the credibility of credence claims. However, while consumers rationally discount the credibility of simple credence claims in a review, more complex argument structure and the inclusion of evidence attenuate this effect. In the second essay we ask, “Can online reviews predict the worst doctors?” We examine the power of online reviews to detect low quality, as measured by state medical board sanctions. We find that online reviews are somewhat predictive of a doctor’s suitability to practice medicine; however, not all the data are useful. Numerical or star ratings provide the strongest quality signal; user-submitted text provides some signal but is subsumed almost completely by ratings. Of the ratings variables in our dataset, we find that punctuality, rather than knowledge, is the strongest predictor of medical board sanctions. These results challenge the definition of credence products, which is a long-standing construct in economics of information theory. Our results also have implications for online review users, review platforms, and for the use of predictive modeling in the context of information systems research.

O marketing comportamental no processo de fidelização do consumidor online - Estudo de caso: FNAC.PT

Mestrado em Controlo de Gestão e dos Negócios

Creación de marca mediante la utilización de mecanismos estratégicos comunitarios y marketing

El presente documento pretende mostrar la manera como se debe ejecutar la creación de marca mediante la utilización de mecanismos estratégicos comunitarios y marketing. El objetivo del estudio se basa en encontrar los mecanismos adecuados para el desarrollo y creación de una marca enfocándose en el análisis de las principales prácticas y modelos desarrollados en el área del marketing, examinando el impacto que la marca pueda generar en la comunidad en la cual la organización está incluida, estableciendo además un conexión directa con el modo de vida de los consumidores. Durante el desarrollo del documento se demuestra que las estrategias de marketing aplicadas por cada compañía, sirven para construir una relación estrecha y fuerte con todos los agentes involucrados en la construcción de una marca, principalmente con los clientes, ya que la forma más efectiva de establecer relaciones a largo plazo, es enfocándose exclusivamente en las necesidades desarrolladas por los consumidores, y a partir de ellas ajustar los valores (misión, visión, cultura organizacional, objetivos) de la organización. Estas estrategias comunitarias son también influenciadas por varios factores internos y externos a la organización, los cuales deben ser tenidos en cuenta al momento de elegir la estrategia adecuada. Los mecanismos estratégicos que desarrollan las empresas pueden cambiar significativamente de un sector comercial a otro, la importancia de las necesidades que se deben suplir y el consumidor final se deben evaluar desde un aspecto comunitario, entendiendo como comunidad como el conjunto de grupos sociales y comerciales que tienen relación directa o indirecta con la empresa. Con la investigación llevada a cabo acerca de las estrategias que deben aplicar las compañías se concluye que las marcas reflejan la imagen que la empresa transmite a sus compradores estableciendo una relación emocional entre los consumidores y la marca desarrollada, además de estimular la oferta y demanda del negocio. Se espera que por medio de la obtención de información teórica y conceptual, se pueda aclarar la manera como se puede desarrollar la creación de una marca por medio de la correcta utilización de mecanismos estratégicos comunitarios y de marketing.

The Interactions between clients and providers of services related to marketing activities

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the business interactions involved in the purchase of services related to marketing activities. We build on the literature about business services classifications and the interaction between clients and providers of business services. An empirical study is conducted by means of a survey questionnaire. Data were collected from a sample of 80 buying firms of services related to marketing activities who agreed to cooperate and represent medium and large Portuguese’s firms. The results show that the buying of services related to marketing activities involves both the client and the provider in the interaction process. This paper contributes to understanding the interaction process of buying services related to marketing activities in terms of the parties involved, product/service exchange, financial and information exchange. Providers of services related to marketing activities can expect stable and preferred relationships if they can offer a good price and quality of service, meet the agreed deadlines and respond quickly to client orders. On the client’s side, the relevance, the characteristics and the wide diversity of services related to marketing activities requires a good understanding and management of the interaction portfolio with providers.

A marketing plan for Oqtopus in the Spanish market

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Confabulation in schizophrenia: a neuropsychological study.

Confabulation has been documented in schizophrenia, but its neuropsychological correlates appear to be different from those of confabulation in neurological disease states. Forty-five schizophrenic patients and 37 controls were administered a task requiring them to recall fables. They also underwent testing with a range of memory and executive tasks. The patients with schizophrenia produced significantly more confabulations than the controls. After correcting for multiple comparisons, confabulation was not significantly associated with memory impairment, and was associated with impairment on only one of eight executive measures, the Brixton Test. Confabulation scores were also associated with impairment on two semantic memory tests. Confabulation was correlated with intrusion errors in recall, but not false positive errors in a recognition task. The findings suggest that confabulation in schizophrenia is unrelated to the episodic memory impairment seen in the disorder. However, the association with a circumscribed deficit in executive function could be consistent with a defective strategic retrieval account of confabulation similar to that of Moscovitch and co-workers, interacting with defective semantic memory.

Programa de Atención a Población Inmigrante en Salud Mental (PAPI-SM)

Publicado en la página web del Servicio Andaluz de Salud. http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/servicioandaluzdesalud (Servicio Andaluz de Salud/principal/la organización/publicaciones)

Validation of a new tool to assess health-related quality of life in psoriasis: the PSO-LIFE questionnaire.

BACKGROUND Several questionnaires have been used to measure health related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with psoriasis, few have been adapted for use in Spain; none of them was developed specifically for the Spanish population. The purpose of the study was to validate and assess the sensitivity to change of a new questionnaire to measure HRQOL in patients with psoriasis (PSO-LIFE). METHODS Observational, prospective, multicenter study performed in centers around Spain. Patients with active or inactive psoriasis completed the PSO-LIFE together with other Dermatology Quality of Life Index (DLQI) and Psoriasis Disability Index (PDI). A control group of patients with urticaria or atopic dermatitis was also included. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the PSO-LIFE were assessed by calculating Cronbach's alpha and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Validity was assessed by examining factorial structure, the capacity to discriminate between groups, and correlations with other measures. Sensitivity to change was measured using effect sizes. RESULTS The final sample included for analysis consisted of 304 patients and 56 controls. Mean (SD) age of psoriasis patients was 45.3 (14.5) years compared to 38.8 (14) years for controls (p < 0.01). Cronbach's alpha for the PSO-LIFE was 0.95 and test-retest reliability using the ICC was 0.98. Factor analysis showed the questionnaire to be unidimensional. Mean (SD) PSO-LIFE scores differed between patients with psoriasis and controls (64.9 [22.5] vs 69.4 [17.3]; p < 0.05), between those with active and inactive disease (57.4 [20.4] vs 76.4 [20.6]; p < 0.01), and between those with visible and non-visible lesions (63.0 [21.9] vs. 74.8 [23.9]; p < 0.01). The correlation between PSO-LIFE and PASI scores was moderate (r = -0.43) while correlations with DLQI and PDI dimensions ranged from moderate to high (between 0.4 and 0.8). Effect size on the PSO-LIFE in patients reporting 'much improved' health status at study completion was 1.01 (large effect size). CONCLUSIONS The present results provide substantial support for the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the PSO-LIFE questionnaire in the population for which it was designed.

Utility of the mini-cog for detection of cognitive impairment in primary care: data from two spanish studies.

Objectives. To study the utility of the Mini-Cog test for detection of patients with cognitive impairment (CI) in primary care (PC). Methods. We pooled data from two phase III studies conducted in Spain. Patients with complaints or suspicion of CI were consecutively recruited by PC physicians. The cognitive diagnosis was performed by an expert neurologist, after formal neuropsychological evaluation. The Mini-Cog score was calculated post hoc, and its diagnostic utility was evaluated and compared with the utility of the Mini-Mental State (MMS), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT), and the sum of the MMS and the CDT (MMS + CDT) using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The best cut points were obtained on the basis of diagnostic accuracy (DA) and kappa index. Results. A total sample of 307 subjects (176 CI) was analyzed. The Mini-Cog displayed an AUC (±SE) of 0.78 ± 0.02, which was significantly inferior to the AUC of the CDT (0.84 ± 0.02), the MMS (0.84 ± 0.02), and the MMS + CDT (0.86 ± 0.02). The best cut point of the Mini-Cog was 1/2 (sensitivity 0.60, specificity 0.90, DA 0.73, and kappa index 0.48 ± 0.05). Conclusions. The utility of the Mini-Cog for detection of CI in PC was very modest, clearly inferior to the MMS or the CDT. These results do not permit recommendation of the Mini-Cog in PC.

Expectations, experiences and attitudes of patients and primary care health professionals regarding online psychotherapeutic interventions for depression: protocol for a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND In the year 2020, depression will cause the second highest amount of disability worldwide. One quarter of the population will suffer from depression symptoms at some point in their lives. Mental health services in Western countries are overburdened. Therefore, cost-effective interventions that do not involve mental health services, such as online psychotherapy programs, have been proposed. These programs demonstrate satisfactory outcomes, but the completion rate for patients is low. Health professionals' attitudes towards this type of psychotherapy are more negative than the attitudes of depressed patients themselves. The aim of this study is to describe the profile of depressed patients who would benefit most from online psychotherapy and to identify expectations, experiences, and attitudes about online psychotherapy among both patients and health professionals that can facilitate or hinder its effects. METHODS A parallel qualitative design will be used in a randomised controlled trial on the efficiency of online psychotherapeutic treatment for depression. Through interviews and focus groups, the experiences of treated patients, their reasons for abandoning the program, the expectations of untreated patients, and the attitudes of health professionals will be examined. Questions will be asked about training in new technologies, opinions of online psychotherapy, adjustment to therapy within the daily routine, the virtual and anonymous relationship with the therapist, the process of online communication, information necessary to make progress in therapy, process of working with the program, motivations and attitudes about treatment, expected consequences, normalisation of this type of therapy in primary care, changes in the physician-patient relationship, and resources and risks. A thematic content analysis from the grounded theory for interviews and an analysis of the discursive positions of participants based on the sociological model for focus groups will be performed. DISCUSSION Knowledge of the expectations, experiences, and attitudes of both patients and medical personnel regarding online interventions for depression can facilitate the implementation of this new psychotherapeutic tool. This qualitative investigation will provide thorough knowledge of the perceptions, beliefs, and values of patients and clinicians, which will be very useful for understanding how to implement this intervention method for depression.

Construcción y validación del cuestionario G_Clinic para medir la satisfacción laboral en profesionales de enfermería de las unidades de gestión clínica.

BACKGROUND Job satisfaction of nurses is a determinant factor in the quality and organizational adaptation of clinical management models in the current socio-economic context. The aim of this study was to construct and validate a questionnaire to measure job satisfaction of nurses in the Clinical Management Units in the Andalusian Public Health System. METHODS Clinimetric and cross-sectional study with a sample of 314 nurses of two university hospitals from Seville. Nurses were surveyed in 2011, from March to June. We used the Font Roja questionnaire adapted to our study variables. We performed analyses of correlations, reliability and construct validity, using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the a priori model. RESULTS The end questionnaire consists of 10 items, whose internal consistency was 0.75, with a percentage of variance explaining of 63.67%. CFA confirmed 4 dimensions (work environment, work relationships, motivation, and recognition): significant χ2 (p < .001); χ2/gl = 2.013; GFI= 0.958, RMR = 0.055 y RMSEA = 0.057; AGFI = 0.927, NFI = 0.878, TLI = 0.902, CFI =0.933 e IFI = 0.935; AIC = 132.486 y ECVI = 0.423. CONCLUSION This new questionnaire (G_Clinic) improves clinimetric values of the Font Roja questionnaire, because it reduces the number of items, improves the reliability of the dimensions, increases the value of variance explained, and allows knowing job satisfaction of nurses in clinical managementt.

A Spanish version of the athens insomnia scale

Objectives To develop and validate a Spanish version of the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Methods The AIS is designed to assess sleep difficulty and comprises eight items: the first five refer to the sleep disturbance and the last three to the daytime consequences. Either the full eight-item scale (AIS-8) or the brief form (AIS-5) can be administered. The adaptation used a backtranslation design. The validation process was based on a sample of 323 participants (undergraduates, community sample and psychiatric outpatients), which completed the AIS and other questionnaires: anxiety (BAI), depression (BDI) and psychological well-being (GHQ-12) scales. Results The internal consistency coefficients for both versions were above 0.80. The study of dimensionality revealed a single factor with high loadings and a percentage of explained variance above 50% in both versions. Test-retest reliability was above 0.70 (AIS-5) and over 0.80 (AIS-8) at a one-month interval. The correlation between the AIS and the previously mentioned scales was for both the AIS-5 and the AIS-8 above 0.40 and 0.50, respectively.

Organization of the marketing communication activities after fusion - the integration and the decision making processes

This master’s thesis was made in order to gain answers to the question of how the integration of the marketing communications and the decision making related to it in a geographically dispersed service organization could be improved in a situation where an organization has gone through a merger. The effects of the organizational design dimensions towards the integration of the marketing communications and the decision making related to it was the main focus. A case study as a research strategy offered a perfect frames for an exploratory study and the data collection was conducted by semi-structured interviews and observing. The main finding proved that from the chosen design dimensions, decentralization, coordination and power, could be found specific factors that in a geographically dispersed organization are affecting the integration of the marketing communications negatively. The effects can be seen mostly in the decision making processes, roles and in the division of responsibility, which are affecting the other dimensions and by this, the integration. In a post-merger situation, the coordination dimension and especially the information asymmetry and the information flow seem to have a largest affect towards the integration of the marketing communications. An asymmetric information distribution with the lack of business and marketing education resulted in low self-assurance and at the end in fragmented management and to the inability to set targets and make independent decisions. As conclusions it can be stated, that with the organizational design dimensions can the effects of a merger towards the integration process of the marketing communications to be evaluated.

Une lésion neurotoxique de l’habenula latérale amplifie la locomotion induite par un psychostimulant sans altérer la récompense

L’habenula, un noyau épithalamique, est située au centre de la voie dorsale diencéphalique. Cette voie relie les structures limbiques et les ganglions de la base aux cellules monoaminergiques du mésencéphale. En particulier, l’habenula latérale (HbL) projette directement aux cellules dopaminergiques et GABAergiques de l’aire tegmentale ventrale (ATV). L’ATV est le site d’origine de la voie mésolimbique dopaminergique, une voie impliquée de façon cruciale dans la manifestation des comportements dirigés. L’importance de cette projection habenulaire pour le comportement demeure encore méconnue. Ainsi, l’objectif de cette étude est d’approfondir notre compréhension du rôle de régulation de l’HbL sur les comportements dépendants de la neurotransmission dopaminergique. MATÉRIEL ET MÉTHODES: Des rats adultes mâles Sprague-Dawley ont été anesthésiés avec de l’isofluorane et installés sur un appareil stéréotaxique. L’acide iboténique, une neurotoxine agoniste des récepteurs glutamatergiques, était infusée bilatéralement dans l’HbL (0,25 μg/0,25 μl/côté). Les rats du groupe contrôle recevaient des infusions NaCl 0,9%. Les rats de l’expérience d’autostimulation intracérébrale (ASIC) étaient aussi implantés d’une électrode monopolaire dans le mésencéphale postérieur. Un groupe de rats était testé pour leur réponse de locomotion à l’amphétamine (0; 0,5 ou 1 mg/kg, intrapéritonéal), dix jours suivant la lésion de l’HbL. La locomotion était mesurée dans des chambres d’activité, chacune équipée de deux faisceaux parallèles infrarouges. Le jour du test, les rats étaient pesés et placés dans la chambre d’activité puis leur activité locomotrice de base était mesurée pendant une heure. Les rats recevaient ensuite une dose d’amphétamine ou le véhicule (NaCl 0,9%) par voie intrapéritonéale et l’activité locomotrice était mesurée pendant deux heures supplémentaires. Un groupe de rats distinct a été utilisé dans l’expérience d’ASIC. Commençant sept jours suivant la lésion, les rats étaient entraînés à appuyer sur un levier afin de s’autoadministrer des stimulations électriques, au cours de sessions quotidiennes. Nous avons ensuite mesuré chacun des taux de réponses d’une série de stimulations aux fréquences décroissantes. À partir d’une courbe réponses-fréquences, le seuil de récompense était inféré par la fréquence de la stimulation nécessaire pour produire une réponse semi-maximale. Les seuils de récompense étaient stabilisés à un niveau similaire pour l’ensemble des rats. Enfin, l’effet sur la récompense de l’amphétamine était testé aux mêmes doses employées pour l’expérience de locomotion. RÉSULTATS: Une lésion neurotoxique de l’HbL n’a pas altéré les niveaux de base de l’activité locomotrice dans chaque groupe. Cependant, une telle lésion a potentialisé l’effet de locomotion de l’amphétamine (1 mg/kg) pendant la première heure suivant son administration, et une tendance similaire était observable pendant la seconde heure. À l’inverse, nous n’avons observé aucune interaction entre une lésion à l’HbL et l’effet amplificateur sur la récompense de l’amphétamine. CONCLUSION: Nos résultats révèlent une importante contribution fonctionnelle de l’HbL à la locomotion induite par l’activation de la voie mésolimbique dopaminergique avec une dose de 1 mg/kg d’amphétamine. À l’opposé, aucun effet sur la récompense n’a été observé. Ces résultats suggèrent que l’activation psychomotrice et l’amplifiation de la récompense produite par l’amphétamine dépendent de substrats dissociables, chacun étant différentiellement sensible à la modulation provenant de l’HbL.