AXIOMATIC CONJOINT MEASUREMENT

This paper is a tutorial on axiomatic conjoint measurement. It summarizes recent developments, illustrates the use of these developments in investigating ordinal data relations, relates axiomatic and numerical scaling procedures, describes previous applications of conjoint measurement, and suggests future applications in the decision sciences. Emphasis is placed on the contributions axiomatic conjoint measurement could make to the analyses of ordinal data structures.     

The Internal Validity of the Trade-Off Method of Conjoint Analysis

The discovery of consumers' preferences for multiattribute products/services has recently become possible with the development of conjoint measurement techniques. Conjoint analysis uses an individual's preference ranking or rating of some deliberately manipulated constructs of a concept to determine his/her numerically valued preferences for levels of those attributes that comprise the concept. Generally speaking, there are two methods of data collection for conjoint analysis: the full profile and the trade-off methods. This paper calls into question the internal validity of the preferences obtained via the trade-off method. An empirical analysis, which is based on the subjects' preferences for selecting a hospital, clearly shows that the estimates derived from the trade-off method may not reflect consumers' true preferences.     

Resolving conflict over salespeople’s brand adoption in franchised channels of distribution

Many franchise-based retail outlets offer both the franchisor-owned brand and brands of competitors or independent suppliers. As salespeople may influence customers’ brand choices considerably, an important concern for franchisors is how to raise salespeople’s selling preferences for the franchisor-owned brand. However, the channel administration literature suggests that salespeople may not automatically favor the franchisor’s brand over other brand lines. While a large body of research examines franchise–channel relationships, previous investigations have conspicuously overlooked this channel conflict. In proposing a conceptual model grounded in the behavioral sciences, this study analyzes how franchisors can induce salespeople to advocate their brand by fostering the intention to promote the franchisor-owned brand (IFOB) in customer interaction. The results of an empirical field study show that individual brand promotion depends on factors such as salespeople’s identification with the franchisor and their tenure with the organization, as well as on the franchisor’s prestige and administration of the franchise. Moreover, we find that franchisees’ IFOB transfers to salespeople, but only if franchisees display a charismatic leadership style. We discuss these findings in light of extant theory and empirical evidence and derive several managerially relevant implications for the administration of franchised retail channels.     

REPLY TO: “ON THE SENSITIVITY OF BRAND-CHOICE SIMULATIONS TO ATTRIBUTE IMPORTANCE WEIGHTS”

Our reply to Curry, Louviere, and Augustine's critique of our earlier paper focuses on differences in motivation between our research and theirs. Our interest in the problem relates to the possible incorporation of self-explicated evaluations in conjoint data collection methods; subsequent to the appearance of our original paper, we have developed hybrid models that combine elements of self-explicated (compositional) and conjoint (decompositional) data collection procedures. As far as we can surmise from their critique, Curry, Louviere, and Augustine are concerned with much broader strategic issues relating share of choices in the consumer population to changes in the shape of attribute weight distributions, shape of the Pareto tradeoff boundary, and so on.     

What Makes Performance-Related Pay Schemes Work? Finnish Evidence

We analyze how features of performance-related pay (PRP) schemes affect their perceived motivational effects using a Finnish survey for upper white-collar employees from 1999. The results show that the following features are important for a successful PRP scheme: (i) the employees have to feel they are able to affect the outcomes; (ii) the organizational level of the performance measurement should be close to the employee: individual and team level performance measurement increase the probability that the scheme is perceived to be motivating; (iii) employees should be familiar with the performance measures; (iv) the level of payments should be high enough and rewards frequent enough. Levels below the median do not generate positive effects; (v) employees should participate in the design of the PRP scheme.     

SOME CAUTIONARY NOTES ON THE USE OF CONJOINT MEASUREMENT FOR HUMAN JUDGMENT MODELING*

Conjoint measurement has been suggested as a methodology that might be useful in assisting research concerned with the identification of the structural form of a judge's model. This paper synthesizes the results of some recent research that examined the robustness of this methodology. This research suggests that conjoint measurement has three major weaknesses: (1) certain biases exist when diagnosing model structure, (2) model diagnosis is limited to a small set of potential models, and (3) error substantially compromises conjoint measurement's ability to diagnose model structure. An empirical example that demonstrates some of the difficulties of using this methodology with experimental data is also presented.     

Inequity at work: its measurement and association with worker health

The equity theory of Adams (1963, 1965) predicts that people pursue a balance between their investments in and the rewards gained from their work, such that their own investment/reward ratio is the same as that of similar others. Disturbance of this balance is expected to result in a range of negative outcomes, even if people are comparatively well off. The current study among a representative sample of 1297 Finnish workers examined two assumptions of this theory more closely, namely (1) whether the relationship between inequity and selected health-related outcome variables is U-shaped (is receiving too much as detrimental as receiving too little?), and (2) whether the reference to 'similar others' should be included in the measure tapping inequity. Multivariate analysis of variance only partly confirmed the hypothesis that the relationship between inequity and selected outcome variables is U-shaped. The reference to 'similar others' in the measurement of inequity seems to be superfluous.     

ASSESSMENT OF MULTIATTRIBUTED MEASURABLE VALUE AND UTILITY FUNCTIONS VIA MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING*

A major restriction on the use of decision analysis in practice is the frequent difficulty of determining a decision maker's multiattribute utility function. The assessment process can be complex and tedious and generally involves: (1) identifying relevant independence conditions, (2) assessing conditional utility functions, (3) assessing scaling constants, and (4) checking for consistency. Some of the assessment and modeling complexities encountered include an assessor's inability to respond in a quantitatively meaningful and consistent way to hypothetical gambles and an analyst's problem in selecting an appropriate functional form that accurately characterizes the conditional utility assessments. A simplified procedure that mitigates these difficulties is proposed. This procedure facilitates the determination of scaling constants by obtaining (via mathematical programming) a multiattributed measurable value function which is converted to a multiattributed utility function. The methodology can be developed advantageously to produce an interactive software package for use as an assessment aid.     

Natural Capitalism: Path to Sustainability?

In this article, the Lovins’² explain what is meant by Natural Capitalism, four principles that enable business to behave responsibly towards both nature and people while increasing profits, inspiring their workforce and gaining competitive advantage. It combines radically increased resource productivity; closed-loop, zero-waste, nontoxic production; a business model that rewards both; and reinvestment in natural capital. The article describes how, even today, when nature and people are typically valued at zero, protecting and restoring nature, culture and community can be far more profitable than liquidating them.     

Psychosocial work environment and mental health among travelling salespeople

Travelling salespeople have a rather unusual working environment, with long periods of absence from their firm and a low level of social contacts with colleagues. Furthermore, they are exposed to high demands in their work, which may conflict with a normal family life. In this paper a cross-sectional study of psychosocial work environment and mental health of Danish travelling salespeople is described. A sample of 1,306 travelling salespeople filled in a questionnaire (response rate 68%). The results indicate that poor mental health is associated with a number of demand indicators: number of working hours per week, number of customers per week, non-day work, and a high level of perceived job demands. On the other hand, the number of hours spent with customers per week is positively associated with mental health. The authors did not find the expected associations between poor mental health and several factors such as number of hours away from firm, nights away from home, and a low degree of perceived support from colleagues and superiors. It is concluded that the main stressors of travelling salespeople are long working hours, many customers, non-day work and high perceived psychological demands in general.     

Psychosocial work environment and mental health among travelling salespeople

Travelling salespeople have a rather unusual working environment, with long periods of absence from their firm and a low level of social contacts with colleagues. Furthermore, they are exposed to high demands in their work, which may conflict with a normal family life. In this paper a cross-sectional study of psychosocial work environment and mental health of Danish travelling salespeople is described. A sample of 1,306 travelling salespeople filled in a questionnaire (response rate 68%). The results indicate that poor mental health is associated with a number of demand indicators: number of working hours per week, number of customers per week, non-day work, and a high level of perceived job demands. On the other hand, the number of hours spent with customers per week is positively associated with mental health. The authors did not find the expected associations between poor mental health and several factors such as number of hours away from firm, nights away from home, and a low degree of perceived support from colleagues and superiors. It is concluded that the main stressors of travelling salespeople are long working hours, many customers, non-day work and high perceived psychological demands in general.     

Improving Customer Service in a Large Department Store Through the Use of Training and Feedback

The purpose of this study was to increase the frequency of four specific customer-service behaviors in three full-time department store salespeople. The behaviors recorded were approaching customers, greeting them, being courteous, and appropriately closing the sale. These responses were defined as the four major steps involved in making a sale. A combination multiple baseline across subjects and a reversal design were used to evaluate the results. A training program had only a slight impact on improving service, but feedback produced a substantial improvement in the frequency of all four targeted customer-service behaviors. Removal of feedback produced a small decline in performance; but the percentage of exceptional customer-service behaviors increased to approximately the same levels as those obtained during the Feedback phase, when we told salespeople that their service would be evaluated by customers they waited on.     

Assessing Trade‐offs among Multiple Objectives for Humanitarian Aid Delivery Using Expert Preferences

Humanitarian aid agencies deliver emergency supplies and services to people affected by disasters. Scholars and practitioners have developed modeling approaches to support aid delivery planning, but they have used objective functions with little validation as to the trade‐offs among the multiple goals of aid delivery. We develop a method to value the performance of aid delivery plans based on expert preferences over five key attributes: the amount of cargo delivered, the prioritization of aid by commodity type, the prioritization of aid by delivery location, the speed of delivery, and the operational cost. Through a conjoint analysis survey, we measure the preferences of 18 experienced humanitarian logisticians. The survey results quantify the importance of each attribute and enable the development of a piecewise linear utility function that can be used as an objective function in optimization models. The results show that the amount of cargo delivered is the most valued objective and cost the least important. In addition, experts prioritize more vulnerable communities and more critical commodities, but not to the exclusion of others. With these insights and the experts’ utility functions, better humanitarian objective functions can be developed to enable better aid delivery in emergency response.     

Paradoxes of Online Investing: Testing the Influence of Technology on User Expectancies*

At an increasing rate, individual investors are taking personal control over their financial destinies by investing their money online. Compared to offline do‐it‐yourself approaches, evidence suggests that investors exhibit lofty expectations and perform significantly worse after going online. However, little is understood about the mechanisms fueling expectancies, the role technologies play in their formation, or how technologies shape investment decisions. Therefore, this article explores the paradoxical nature of online investing technologies, which can give rise to a heightened state of conviction in one's capability to invest successfully. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, the concepts of encapsulation and combination are introduced to develop a research model describing how functional and technical self‐efficacy judgments independently and collectively shape and influence outcome expectancies. The results suggest that perceptions about what one can accomplish through online investing technologies can lead investors to exaggerate their capabilities, which, in turn, produces elevated expectancies of financial payoffs and nonmonetary rewards. These findings carry important implications. In tasks requiring both computing and functional skills, the principals of encapsulation and combination highlight the importance of comprehensively capturing self‐efficacy beliefs across skill domain boundaries. Moreover, online investing represents a paradoxical case that challenges the traditional assumption that fostering a robust sense of efficacy represents a purely noble enterprise. In fact, strong self‐efficacy beliefs can prove counterproductive, leading to severe, irreversible, and unintended consequences. Going forward, these discoveries provide a solid foundation to enhance systems designs and facilitate a deeper understanding of user psychology.     

COMPARISON OF CONSENSUS METHODS FOR PRIORITY RANKING PROBLEMS

Various consensus methods proposed for ranking problems yield controversial rankings and/or tied rankings which are vulnerable to considerable dispute. These include Borda-Kendall (BK) and minimum-variance (MV) methods. This paper compares three continuous (ratio-scale) consensus scoring methods with BK and MV ranking methods. One method, termed GM, is an eigenvector scaling of the geometric-mean consensus matrix. GM allows for (1) paired-comparison voting inputs (as opposed to all-at-once ranking), (2) pick-the-winner preference voting, and (3) ratio-scale preference voting. GM is relatively simple to calculate on small computers or calculators, and merging of “close” candidates into tied rankings can be achieved by using an e-threshold tie rule discussed in this paper. The GM method thus can be used for paired-comparison voting to calculate both a ratio-scaled consensus index (based on a consensus eigenvector) and a ranking of candidates that allows for ties between “close” candidates. Eigenvalue analysis is used as a means of evaluating voter inconsistencies.     

ON THE USE OF VERBAL PROTOCOLS IN CONJOINT ANALYSIS STUDIES

A recent study by Olshavsky and Acito helped gain insight into (a) the decision process used by respondents when asked to do a conjoint task, (b) the predictive validity of conjoint models compared to models derived from verbal protocols, and (c) the reasons for prediction errors. In this article, the author argues that the Olshavsky and Acito results do not lead one to believe that the compensatory conjoint models can be potentially more misleading than models that try to represent more accurately the underlying evaluation process with noncompensatory and compensatory rules. Hence, it does not seem necessary to try to identify noncompensatory rules in a conjoint study.     

The Effects of a Combined Goal Setting,Feedback and Incentive Intervention on Job Performance in a Manufacturing Environment

Abstract

Baked anodes are used in finished aluminum production. Employees of a large multinational aluminum smelter were responsible for the production of more than 3500 baked anodes per week. During a 74 week long baseline (A) condition, production of unusable anodes exceeded 300 per week or 8.6 percent of their nominal 3500 anode production requirement. A problem analysis suggested that this high rate of defective anodes might have been due to weak antecedents, inefficient work procedures and weak performance contingencies. An intervention package that included a combination of goal setting, performance feedback, and tangible rewards was designed to strengthen antecedents and consequences of job performance. A performance feedback system was introduced with and remained constant across the three types of performance contingent rewards and three successively higher goal levels. The three reward and goal combinations were introduced to “strengthen” antecedents and performance contingencies within an A-B1-B2-B3-A with reversal to baseline conditions design. Anode reject rates were lower (better performance) during the three intervention phases compared to both the pre- and post-intervention baseline phase data. A dramatic performance improvement (lowered rate of rejects) was observed during the B3 phase that included the highest performance goal. These data demonstrate that a treatment combination of specific goal setting, feedback and tangible rewards can “strengthen” antecedents and performance contingencies resulting in improved objective performance in a manufacturing environment.     

Employer brand building for start-ups: which job attributes do employees value most?

Although attracting talented personnel is one of the biggest challenges for start-ups, little is known about how nascent ventures can successfully build an employer brand. This study investigates which distinctive job attributes start-ups can use for their employer branding. We identify the unique job attributes distinguishing entrepreneurial firms from large firms and calibrate the relative value of these job attributes from the potential employees’ perspective. Using conjoint analysis we demonstrate that a communal team climate and the early assignment of responsibilities are a start-up’s most attractive job attributes for prospective applicants. We contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing literature by bringing forward the concept of entrepreneurial employer branding, by examining entrepreneurial firms’ unique and attractive job attributes, and by discussing how start-ups can make use of these attributes in their recruiting and employer branding activities.