The interactions of consumption characteristics on social norms

Purpose: An extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model tests how customer loyalty intentions may relate to subjective and descriptive norms. The study further determines whether consumption characteristics – product enjoyment and importance – moderate norms-loyalty relationships.----- Methodology: Using a two-study approach focusing on youth, an Australian study (n = 244) first augmented TPB with descriptive norm. A Singapore study (n = 415) followed up with how consumption characteristics might moderate norms-loyalty relationships. With both studies, linear regressions tested the relationships among the variables.----- Findings: Extending TPB with descriptive norm improved TPB’s predictive ability across studies. Further, product enjoyment and importance moderated the norms-loyalty relationships differently. Subjective norm related to loyalty intentions significantly with high enjoyment, whereas descriptive norm was significant with low enjoyment. Only subjective norm was significant with low importance.----- Research limitations: Single-item variables, self-reported questionnaires on intended rather than actual behavior, and not controlling for cultural differences between the two samples limit generalizablity.----- Practical implications: The significance of both norms suggests that mobile firms should reach youth through their peers. With youth, social pressure may be influential particularly with hedonic products. However, the different moderations of product enjoyment and importance imply that a blanket marketing strategy targeting youth may not work.----- Originality/Value: This study extends academic knowledge on the relationships between norms and customer loyalty, particularly with consumption characteristics as moderators. The findings highlight the importance of considering different norms with consumer behavior. The study should help mobile firms understand how social influences impact customer loyalty.

Organic and acquisitive employment growth : re-examining,testing and extending Penrose's Growth Theory.

Edith Penrose’s theory of firm growth postulates that a firm’s current growth rate will be influenced by the adjustment costs of, and changes to a firm’s productive opportunity set arising from, previous growth. Although she explicitly considered the impact of previous organic growth on current organic growth, she was largely silent about the impact of previous acquisitive growth. In this paper we extend Penrose’s work to examine that the relative impact of organic and acquisitive growth on the adjustment costs and productive opportunity set of the firm. Employing a panel of commercially active enterprises in Sweden over a 10 year period our results suggest the following. First, previous organic growth acts as a constraint on current organic growth. Second, previous acquisitive growth has a positive effect on current organic growth. We conclude that organic growth and acquisitive growth constitute two distinct strategic options facing the firm, which have a differential impact on the future organic growth of the firm.

Self-referencing and consumer evaluations of larger-sized female models : a weight locus of control perspective

In two experiments, we show that the beliefs women have about the controllability of their weight (i.e., weight locus of control) influences their responses to advertisements featuring a larger-sized female model or a slim female model. Further, we examine self-referencing as a mechanism for these effects. Specifically, people who believe they can control their weight (“internals”), respond most favorably to slim models in advertising, and this favorable response is mediated by self-referencing. In contrast, people who feel powerless about their weight (“externals”), self-reference larger-sized models, but only prefer larger-sized models when the advertisement is for a non-fattening product. For fattening products, they exhibit a similar preference for larger-sized models and slim models. Together, these experiments shed light on the effect of model body size and the role of weight locus of control in influencing consumer attitudes.

Infomercials and advertising effectiveness : an empirical study

Despite their increasing use by advertisers, little research has examined the effectiveness of infomercials. This study explores the influence of infomercial advertisement design elements, such as the use of customer testimonials or expert comments, and consumer characteristics, such as level of prior interest in the advertised product, upon perceptions of advertising effectiveness. With the assistance of the New Zealand division of an international infomercial marketer, we conducted a survey of consumers who had bought products in response to viewing an infomercial. Based on 878 respondents, our findings indicate that infomercial advertising is more effective when employing expert comments, testimonials, product demonstrations, the use of target market models, celebrity endorsers, product comparisons, and bonus offers. Age also impacted how consumers view infomercials, as did the type of product purchased.

Implementation of an integrated, technology-based, discovery mode assessment item involving an incubation period to enhance learning outcomes for engineering maths students

In this paper we discuss our current efforts to develop and implement an exploratory, discovery mode assessment item into the total learning and assessment profile for a target group of about 100 second level engineering mathematics students. The assessment item under development is composed of 2 parts, namely, a set of "pre-lab" homework problems (which focus on relevant prior mathematical knowledge, concepts and skills), and complementary computing laboratory exercises which are undertaken within a fixed (1 hour) time frame. In particular, the computing exercises exploit the algebraic manipulation and visualisation capabilities of the symbolic algebra package MAPLE, with the aim of promoting understanding of certain mathematical concepts and skills via visual and intuitive reasoning, rather than a formal or rigorous approach. The assessment task we are developing is aimed at providing students with a significant learning experience, in addition to providing feedback on their individual knowledge and skills. To this end, a noteworthy feature of the scheme is that marks awarded for the laboratory work are primarily based on the extent to which reflective, critical thinking is demonstrated, rather than the amount of CBE-style tasks completed by the student within the allowed time. With regard to student learning outcomes, a novel and potentially critical feature of our scheme is that the assessment task is designed to be intimately linked to the overall course content, in that it aims to introduce important concepts and skills (via individual student exploration) which will be revisited somewhat later in the pedagogically more restrictive formal lecture component of the course (typically a large group plenary format). Furthermore, the time delay involved, or "incubation period", is also a deliberate design feature: it is intended to allow students the opportunity to undergo potentially important internal re-adjustments in their understanding, before being exposed to lectures on related course content which are invariably delivered in a more condensed, formal and mathematically rigorous manner. In our presentation, we will discuss in more detail our motivation and rationale for trailing such a scheme for the targeted student group. Some of the advantages and disadvantages of our approach (as we perceived them at the initial stages) will also be enumerated. In a companion paper, the theoretical framework for our approach will be more fully elaborated, and measures of student learning outcomes (as obtained from eg. student provided feedback) will be discussed.

Intentions and willingness to use complementary and alternative medicines : what potential patients believe about CAMs

This paper explores the intentions and willingness of a sample of Australian consumers (N = 356) to use Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Participants considered using CAMs at least once in the next two months and rated the likelihood of certain consequences of CAM use, whether important others would approve, and if barriers would prevent them from using CAMs. People intending to use CAMs (high intenders) were more likely than those low on intention (low intenders) to endorse positive outcomes of CAM use and believe that important others would support their CAM use. High intenders were less likely than low intenders to believe that barriers would prevent use. Low intenders (n = 200) were also asked to consider their response to a free CAM trial. Those willing to accept a trial were more likely than those unwilling to believe that CAMs could improve health and less likely to believe that laziness would prevent use. These results identify important beliefs which may influence people’s decisions to use CAMs.

Digital media literacy : connecting young people’s identities, creative production and learning about video games

This chapter outlines examples of classroom activities that aim to make connections between young people’s everyday experiences with video games and the formal high school curriculum. These classroom activities were developed within the emerging field of digital media literacy. Digital media literacy combines elements of ‘traditional’ approaches to media education with elements of technology and information education (Buckingham, 2007; Warschauer, 2006). It is an educational field that has gained significant attention in recent years. For example, digital media literacy has become a significant objective for media policy makers in response to the increased social and cultural roles of new media technologies and controversies associated with young people’s largely unregulated online participation. Media regulators, educational institutions and independent organizations1 in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have developed digital media literacy initiatives that aim to provide advice to parents, teachers and young people.

“I woke up and realised the ground had shifted”: the shifting terrain of English curriculum

The theme of this conference comes from the epitaph on the Lewis Carroll’s gravesite. “Is All our Life then But A Dream?” This seems fitting for a time when so much change in the terrain of English makes us feel as if we are somnambulating through a surrealist landscape. Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, (Carroll, 2003) we might find ourselves at strange tea parties with bureaucratic mad hatters, and just when we think we have a grasp of applying new theory in our teaching, we fall down another rabbit hole, to swim in confusion as some queen calls out, ‘off with their heads!’. The shifting ground in English inevitably moves in response to waves of theory influencing classroom practice. Each new paradigm has claimed to liberate language learners from the flaws of the previous model. Each linguist or literary theorist who shaped the new paradigm no doubt dreamt of a new population emerging from school as more powerfully literate citizens than the previous generation.

The genetic basis of human height : the role of estrogen

Height is a complex physical trait that displays strong heritability. Adult height is related to length of the long bones, which is determined by growth at the epiphyseal growth plate. Longitudinal bone growth occurs via the process of endochondral ossification, where bone forms over the differentiating cartilage template at the growth plate. Estrogen plays a major role in regulating longitudinal bone growth and is responsible for inducing the pubertal growth spurt and fusion of the epiphyseal growth plate. However, the mechanism by which estrogen promotes epiphyseal fusion is poorly understood. It has been hypothesised that estrogen functions to regulate growth plate fusion by stimulating chondrocyte apoptosis, angiogenesis and bone cell invasion in the growth plate. Another theory has suggested that estrogen exposure exhausts the proliferative capacity of growth plate chondrocytes, which accelerates the process of chondrocyte senescence, leading to growth plate fusion. The overall objective of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind estrogen-mediated growth and height attainment by examining gene regulation in chondrocytes and the role of some of these genes in normal height inheritance. With the heritability of height so well established, the initial hypothesis was that genetic variation in candidate genes associated with longitudinal bone growth would be involved in normal adult height variation. The height-related genes FGFR3, CBFA1, ER and CBFA1 were screened for novel polymorphisms using denaturing HPLC and RFLP analysis. In total, 24 polymorphisms were identified. Two SNPs in ER (rs3757323 C>T and rs1801132 G>C) were strongly associated with adult male height and displayed an 8 cm and 9 cm height difference between homozygous genotypes, respectively. The TC haplotype of these SNPs was associated with a 6 cm decrease in height and remarkably, no homozygous carriers of the TC haplotype were identified in tall subjects. No significant associations with height were found for polymorphisms in the FGFR3, CBFA1 or VDR genes. In the epiphyseal growth plate, chondrocyte proliferation, matrix synthesis and chondrocyte hypertrophy are all major contributors to long bone growth. As estrogen plays such a significant role in both growth and final height attainment, another hypothesis of this study was that estrogen exerted its effects in the growth plate by influencing chondrocyte proliferation and mediating the expression of chondrocyte marker genes. The examination of genes regulated by estrogen in chondrocyte-like cells aimed to identify potential regulators of growth plate fusion, which may further elucidate mechanisms involved in the cessation of linear growth. While estrogen did not dramatically alter the proliferation of the SW1353 cell line, gene expression experiments identified several estrogen regulated genes. Sixteen chondrocyte marker genes were examined in response to estrogen concentrations ranging from 10-12 M to 10-8 M over varying time points. Of the genes analysed, IHH, FGFR3, collagen II and collagen X were not readily detectable and PTHrP, GHR, ER, BMP6, SOX9 and TGF1 mRNAs showed no significant response to estrogen treatments. However, the expression of MMP13, CBFA1, BCL-2 and BAX genes were significantly decreased. Interestingly, the majority of estrogen regulated genes in SW1353 cells are expressed in the hypertrophic zone of the growth plate. Estrogen is also known to regulate systemic GH secretion and local GH action. At the molecular level, estrogen functions to inhibit GH action by negatively regulating GH signalling. GH treated SW1353 cells displayed increases in MMP9 mRNA expression (4.4-fold) and MMP13 mRNA expression (64-fold) in SW1353 cells. Increases were also detected in their respective proteins. Treatment with AG490, an established JAK2 inhibitor, blocked the GH mediated stimulation of both MMP9 and MMP13 mRNA expression. The application of estrogen and GH to SW1353 cells attenuated GH-stimulated MMP13 levels, but did not affect MMP9 levels. Investigation of GH signalling revealed that SW1353 cells have high levels of activated JAK2 and exposure to GH, estrogen, AG490 and other signalling inhibitors did not affect JAK2 phosphorylation. Interestingly, AG490 treatment dramatically decreased ERK2 signalling, although GH did stimulate ERK2 phosphorylation above control levels. AG490 also decreased CBFA1 expression, a transcription factor known to activate MMP9 and MMP13. Finally, GH and estrogen treatment increased expression of SOCS3 mRNA, suggesting that SOCS3 may regulate JAK/STAT signalling in SW1353 cells. The modulation of GH-mediated MMP expression by estrogen in SW1353 cells represents a potentially novel mechanism by which estrogen may regulate longitudinal bone growth. However, further investigation is required in order to elucidate the precise mechanisms behind estrogen and GH regulation of MMP13 expression in SW1353 cells. This study has provided additional evidence that estrogen and the ER gene are major factors in the regulation of growth and the determination of adult height. Newly identified polymorphisms in the ER gene not only contribute to our understanding of the genetic basis of human height, but may also be useful in association studies examining other complex traits. This study also identified several estrogen regulated genes and indicated that estrogen modifies the expression of genes which are primarily expressed in the hypertrophic region of the epiphyseal growth plate. Furthermore, synergistic studies incorporating GH and estrogen have revealed the ability of estrogen to attenuate the effects of GH on MMP13 expression, revealing potential pathways by which estrogen may modulate growth plate fusion, longitudinal bone growth and even arthritis.

Operationalising first year curriculum principles

This project builds on the First Year Curriculum Project that was carried out at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2006-2007 (QUT, 2007). One of the objectives of that project was “to develop principles for the Course Development processes that capture good design in first year curriculum practice” (p. 1) and this was achieved through the development of a set of broad organising principles for first year curriculum design—the First Year Curriculum Principles (FYCPs) (Kift, 2008).

A holistic approach to the support and engagement of first year students : a retention strategy

Institutions should enact holistic approaches that address students’ personal, social and academic engagement in the early weeks of first year to facilitate retention (Nelson, Kift & Clarke, 2008). This holistic approach is central to the FYE program at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which was established to maximise learning engagement and hence positively influence the retention of commencing students. The program aims to • engage students in their learning through an intentionally designed and enacted curriculum (Kift, 2008) • facilitate timely access to life and learning support • promote a sense of belonging to the discipline, cohort and profession. The FYE program’s aims are achieved by strategic alliances between academic and professional staff across the institution.

A holistic approach to the support and engagement of first year students : a retention strategy.

Institutions should enact holistic approaches that address students’ personal, social and academic engagement in the early weeks of first year to facilitate retention (Nelson, Kift & Clarke, 2008). This holistic approach is central to the FYE program at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which was established to maximise learning engagement and hence positively influence the retention of commencing students.

Tests of the elaborated intrusion theory of craving and desire : features of alcohol craving during treatment for an alcohol disorder

Objectives. We tested predictions from the elaborated intrusion (EI) theory of desire, which distinguishes intrusive thoughts and elaborations, and emphasizes the importance of imagery. Secondarily, we undertook preliminary evaluations of the Alcohol Craving Experience (ACE) questionnaire, a new measure based on EI Theory. Methods. Participants (N ¼ 232) were in correspondence-based treatment trials for alcohol abuse or dependence. The study used retrospective reports obtained early in treatment using the ACE, and daily self-monitoring of urges, craving, mood and alcohol consumption. Results. The ACE displayed high internal consistency and test – retest reliability and sound relationships with self-monitored craving, and was related to Baseline alcohol dependence, but not to consumption. Imagery during craving was experienced by 81%,with 2.3 senses involved on average. More frequent imagery was associated with longer episode durations and stronger craving. Transient intrusive thoughts were reported by 87% of respondents, and were more common if they frequently attempted to stop alcohol cognitions. Associations between average daily craving and weekly consumption were seen. Depression and negative mood were associated with more frequent, stronger and longer lasting desires for alcohol. Conclusions. Results supported the distinction of automatic and controlled processes in craving, together with the importance of craving imagery. They were also consistent with prediction of consumption from cross-situational averages of craving, and with positive associations between craving and negative mood. However, this study’s retrospective reporting and correlational design require that its results be interpreted cautiously. Research using ecological momentary measures and laboratory manipulations is needed before confident inferences about causality can be made.