Determining Uses and Gratifications for the Internet

Uses and gratifications (U&G) is a media use paradigm from mass communications research that guides the assessment of consumer motivations for media usage and access. It has been used previously in research and decision making related to the promotion of emerging radio and television media. Recent adaptations of U&G research to the Internet are incomplete and have not identified important new Internet‐specific gratifications. This paper empirically derives dimensions of consumer Internet use and usage gratifications among customers of a prominent Internet Service Provider (ISP). Results describe three key dimensions related to consumer use of the Internet, including process and content gratifications as previously found in studies of television, as well as an entirely new social gratification that is unique to Internet use. All three dimensions of gratification are relevant to managing the Internet as a commercial medium, and measures developed from the gratification profiles identified here can serve as trait‐valid scales in future Internet and e‐commerce research.     

Linking Perceived Quality and Customer Satisfaction to Store Traffic and Revenue Growth*

Effects of perceived merchandise and service quality, relative to competition, on retail store performance are investigated using store traffic and revenue growth as outcome variables. A model is proposed and tested using aggregate customer data and store performance outcomes from a group of stores owned by a national retail organization. Results suggest that both service and merchandise quality exert significant influence on store performance, measured by sales growth and customer growth, and their impact is mediated by customer satisfaction. Implications of the results and future research directions are discussed.     

服务不满意情境下的消费者反应类型测评及高阶因子分析

过去对于消费者不满意的研究主要关注的是服务失误和消费者抱怨.在消费者抱怨的相关研究中,学者们提出了消费者抱怨行为(CCB)、消费者反应预测(CRE)以及消费者抱怨反应(CCR)来解释消费者的抱怨行为,但对于消费者不满意之后的其它反应类型研究较少.本研究基于学者们对抱怨类型的研究以及组织行为理论中雇员反应类型(EVLN)模型的研究,探讨在消费者行为研究中,消费者对于不满意的反应类型.通过探索性因子分析和验证性因子分析,我们确定了五种消费者在不满意情景下可能有的反应类型.我们希望企业能够认识到不同的反应类型,从而提高服务质量和服务补救的有效性.     

商业银行贷款组合动态优化模型研究

以银行各项资产组合收益最大化为目标函数,以法律、法规和经营管理约束为条件,运用逆向递推原理和线性规划方法,建立了商业银行贷款组合动态优化模型。创新与特色主要在于考虑了不同区段贷款效益对全部区段贷款总体效益的相互影响,运用逆向递推原理,在考虑所有贷款区间全部收益最优化的前提下,优化配给区间段的贷款配给,使得全部区段的整体贷款配给达到最优。     

Evaluating Consumer Preferences for Existing Multiattribute Products: A Non-Metric Approach

A model evaluating consumer preferences for multiattribute products is derived. The model possesses the following features: (1) the method works for existing products; (2) the input data require only overall product rankings and attribute rankings; (3) the distribution of part worths (utility) for particular attributes is derived and used to judge the trade-offs among different attributes; (4) the procedure can be implemented with existing software; and (5) the attributes do not need to be quantifiable.     

Consumers’ responses to CSR activities: The linkage between increased awareness and purchase intention

The body of research showing the positive effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumer behavior has been growing steadily. However, previous studies have not characterized corporate behaviors in terms of their perception by consumers as significant CSR and researchers have paid little attention to consumers’ understanding of this notion of CSR. The present study explores the relationship between consumer awareness of CSR activities and their purchase intentions. This study employs a questionnaire survey involving Korean consumers. For the analysis, measurement scales for CSR activities and consumers’ purchase intention scales are respectively developed. From the results it is found that there is a significant positive relationship between these two parameters. This study finds out as CSR activities corporate social contribution and local community contribution affect consumers’ purchase intention while corporate environmental protection and contribution have no effects on consumers’ purchase intention.     

Modelling consumers' use of products

Patterns of consumers' use of products are of interest to manufacturers. This paper is concerned with modelling diary data on the use of one product, shampoo, recorded to the nearest hour by over 500 men during 1 week. A binary response multilevel model is developed, building on similar models for consumer purchase data. The model allows for a dependence on the number of days since last use. The results of fitting various versions of this model are discussed. A problem is that the number of days since last use is missing for all times up to the first use. An approximate EM approach is considered to deal with this problem.     

The Dark Side of Information and Market Efficiency in E‐Markets*

Price dispersion reflects the differences in prices for identical products. While in physical markets such dispersion is prevalent due to high search costs, many researchers argue that search costs and price dispersion will be much lower in electronic markets (e‐markets). Empirical evidence does not support this contention, and researchers have studied search costs, market factors, and service‐quality factors to explain this dispersion. Previous research has largely assumed that more information is better. By ignoring the dark side of information, we argue that only a partial understanding of price dispersion is possible. In this article, information overload and equivocality are studied as two dark attributes of information that lead sellers to different pricing decisions in e‐markets. Hypotheses relating these attributes to price dispersion are supported through analysis of 161 product markets. This work opens up new avenues in the study of e‐markets and discusses the implications of these findings for research and practice on consumer and seller decisions.     

亚洲金融体制改革及政策调整对我国的启示

亚洲危机之后东亚金融体制及政策调整对我国有启示作用,一是致力于国内宏观经济稳定和消除深层经济结构方面的隐患才是增强我国金融风险抵御能力的基础;二是我国必须注重化解渐进式改革中金融体系所沉淀的不良资产;三是我国应该坚持金融体系的协调性开放。     

当前的价格形势及政策抉择

当前,我国居民消费价格（CPI）高位继续上涨,工业品出厂价格（PPI）和固定资产投资价格加速上涨,房地产和股票等资产类价格出现滞涨和大幅回落态势。本轮价格上涨是在全球性需求比较旺盛、资金比较宽裕的背景下,主要是由于成本上升及供给不足推动的,即供给环节问题是导致当前我国价格上涨的直接原因。为此,宏观调控的政策重点应是控信贷、保供给、抑通胀。