MEANS-end chain

limitations in internal marketing research have arisen because there is little agreement on what mix of practices can be used effectively to infl uence employees so that they are motivated and behave in a customer-oriented manner (Ahmed and Rafi q, 2003). One possible explanation is due to the failure of previous research to consider the impact of fi rm size and organisational type on internal marketing practices. Hence, the apparent disagreement in the literature may be due to differences in fi rm characteristics that impact on internal

In an uninterrupted close encounter such as spa and beauty industry service, employees' emotional competency is said to successes with productive rapport and results into customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, these relationships are yet to be empirically examined in Malaysia Spa and beauty industry. So this study focuses on investigating the employee emotional competency in establishing service consumer satisfaction and loyalty and mediate role of rapport in Malaysia Spa and beauty industry. Design: The framework is drawn from affect as information theory, which propose to the notion that emotions speaks on the situation of human behaviors, emotional competence came to view from social intelligent, which was described as capability to administer human behaviors such as understand between a male and female (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Structural model is generated and is tested on sample of 250 customers at the spa and beauty firms in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Data is analyzed using IBM AMOS. Findings: Employee emotional competence (EEC) do have a direct positive influence on customer satisfaction of (2.836) and EEC without customer satisfaction have a negative (1.915) influence to customer loyalty. However, Rapport did have a high positive influence of (5.167) on customer satisfaction and even higher influence of (8.689) to customer loyalty.

Infants appear to search for objects hidden by darkness earlier in development than they search for objects hidden by an occluder in the light. However, these two types of search tasks have differed in numerous ways that may have contributed to better performance in the dark (e.g. in whether the hidden objects made sound, in the number of familiarization trials with visible objects). The current studies controlled such incidental differences between search tasks, so that they could be directly compared. Sixand-a-half-month-olds received four types of test events, in which either a toy or no toy was presented and then hidden in the dark or under a cloth in the light. Infants searched more often on toy than no-toy trials in the dark than with a cloth. The advantage in searching for hidden objects in the dark thus appears to be genuine. Theoretical implications are discussed.

This paper discusses the issue of practical reasoning, considering it as a field of study shared among three areas: ethics, common sense and programming languages. It questions the exclusive connection of practical reasoning to the area of ethics, and seeks to show through analysis of examples that other areas of common sense and programming languages also have important elements that characterize practical reasoning. We conclude that practical reasoning cannot be assumed solely from ethics, but it should open a research through the plurality of philosophical discussion.

PurposeDuring service encounters, it has been suggested that emotionally competent employees are likely to succeed in building rapport with their customers, which in turn often leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, these relationships have not been empirically examined. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of customer perceived employee emotional competence (EEC) on satisfaction and loyalty. The paper also examines how and to what extent rapport mediates these effects.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the theory of affect‐as‐information, suggesting that emotions inform human behavior, the paper develops a structural model and tests it on a sample of 247 customers in a personal service setting.FindingsCustomer perceptions of EEC positively influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. Rapport partially mediates both effects.Practical implicationsThe extent to which customers perceive employees as emotionally competent is related to the deve...

For any product to command the attention of prospects depends on the quality of its finishing. Housing as a heterogeneous product must be finished to engender the achievement of a qualitative living environment to the satisfaction of habiting household. This paper presents part findings of housing interior finishes choice and preference in among prospective house owners in Nigeria. The study was conducted within the methodological and conceptual frameworks of Means-End Chain (MEC) and Stated Housing Preference and Housing Choice (SHPHC) models. Questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were used to generate data, which were analysed by content analysis tool. The result showed that 71.95% cermic tiles floor finish were preferred by respondents for various motivational factors. There is a need for vigorous research in the area housing interior finishes choice and the underlying motivational factors.

This study investigates the concept of ethical value proposition. In traditional marketing theory value proposition is primarily derived from the tangible valuables goods in the economies, that is delivered through the service, which has termed goods as dominant factor of value creation. However recent studies contradicting this concept, they claim that not the goods, but service is the base and core source of value and that value is exchanged through tangible/goods. This emergent ethical value propositions provides an interesting research point to further explore the concept of ethical value propositions through relationship managers of Islamic banking perspective. A qualitative phenomenological research design and thematic analysis method has been used in this study to make sense of the experiences of 6 relationship managers about the concept. The data is collected based on purposive sampling technique which is analyzed using QSR NVIVO 12 plus software. Based on the findings of this study a novel framework of value creation cycle is developed that shows that the concept of ethical value propositions that Islamic banks offers are service based and the associated value delivery process. The competencies of bankers and customers are bases of the offered ethical value propositions. This article provides a deeper understanding of ethical value propositions of Islamic banking products using phenomenological inquiry, which has not been explored before.

Physical cognition has generally been assessed in tool-using species that possess a relatively large brain size, such as corvids and apes. Parrots, like corvids and apes, also have large relative brain sizes, yet although parrots rarely use tools in the wild, growing evidence suggests comparable performances on physical cognition tasks. It is, however, unclear whether success on such tasks is facilitated by previous experience and training procedures. We therefore investigated physical comprehension of object relationships in two non-tool-using species of captive neotropical parrots on a new means-end paradigm, the Trap-Gaps task, using unfamiliar materials and modified training procedures that precluded procedural cues. Red-shouldered macaws (Diopsittaca nobilis) and black-headed caiques (Pionites melanocephala) were presented with an initial task that required them to discriminate between pulling food trays through gaps while attending to the respective width of the gaps and size ...

PurposeA significant management issue for nonprofit organisations (NPOs) is the disconnect between services beneficiaries and the funders of those services. Individual donors and fundraisers provide the resources to enable other people (or animals) to be supported. The purpose of this paper is to address this service management challenge through new types of customer service interactions that bring together service donors and service recipients through innovative digital communication.Design/methodology/approachBased on a review, and illustrated by recent examples of innovative best practice, the authors develop a new conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between customer participation and service brand communication.FindingsThe paper starts by identifying the problem of “nonprofit service disintermediation”. The paper also outlines the inadequacies of popular frameworks of communication, widely taught in business schools, to understand the new reality of customer-...

Eighteen accessions of Mentha arvensis var. piperascens Holmes from the CIMAP collection (CIMAP/C01 to CIMAP/ C18) consisting of wild collections and released varieties, their mutants, seed progeny and hybrids from the CIMAP gene bank were assessed for diversity through a combined morphochemical and molecular approach. Morphological characters, oil yield and essential oil components were taken into account to generate a cluster that outgrouped accession CIMAP/C05 from others. A total of 60 primers were used for RAPD and the tree generated after cluster analysis revealed accession CIMAP/C05 as the most diverse genotype. All the accessions exhibited diff erences in narrow range except CIMAP/C05. A wide range of compositional diff erences were observed in the essential oil profi le of the genotypes indicating varying effi ciencies of conversion of one component into other and/or existing metabolic blocks in the essential oil biosynthetic pathway in them.

The influence of loyal customers on a company can reach far beyond their proximate impact. We view this impact as analogous to the ripple caused by a pebble tossed into a still pond. In this paper we introduce the loyalty ripple effect and describe it as the influence, both direct and indirect, customers have on a firm by encouraging new customer patronage or by other actions that create value for the organization. That is, in addition to their revenue stream, we suggest loyal customers may engage in several behaviors that add value to the firm. In the paper we describe some of these behaviors, provide illustrative examples, discuss managerial issues, and make suggestions for future research on this topic.

The rapport between employees and customers represents a particularly salient issue in retail businesses characterized by significant interpersonal interactions. Although rapport relates significantly to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and word-of-mouth communication, the behaviors employees use to develop rapport receive minimal attention in marketing and management literature. Using research on rapport-building behaviors identified in other literature as a basis for investigation, this study investigates the extent to which such behaviors are relevant in commercial settings. With the critical incident technique, the authors identify rapport-building behaviors commonly used by retail employees in 388 service encounters. Analysis of 824 rapport-building behaviors described in these encounters confirms three categories suggested by previous research-uncommonly attentive, common grounding, and courteous behavior-and identifies two additional categories that have not been linked to rapport in retail settings, namely, connecting and information sharing behavior. The authors conclude with a discussion of managerial and research implications.

Cars that provide pleasure: a study about the connection between attributes and personal values of buyers from São paulo Automóveis que geram prazer: um estudo sobre a conexão entre atributos e valores pessoais de compradores paulistanos Coches que generan placer: un estudio sobre la relación entre los valores y los atributos personales de los compradores de São paulo

Five compost piles with different initial C:N ratios have been investigated in this study. As a primary feedstock Imperata sp. was used. The primary feedstock was mixed with poultry litter and vegetable refuse in order to obtain different C: Nratio. The results show that during 64 days of well managed composting under tropical conditions the initial C:N ratio between 30:1 and 50:1 decreased to ratio 11:1 to 15:1, respectively. Results of bioassay tests expressed as the germination index (GI) indicate particular compost phytotoxicity. The value of GI was 51.4%, 48.6%, 47.8%, 46.7% and 40.0% for samples from the compost with initial C:N ratios of 30:1, 37:1, 40:1, 44:1 and 50:1, respectively.

This research is a study into the laddering technique as a method to measure consumer behaviour in the arts. Laddering is a method stemming from psychology and is aimed at uncovering values of people and how they relate to their behaviour, in this case consumer behaviour. It is a method used in marketing and management, but not in the field of cultural economics. By setting laddering off against more common methods to measure consumer behaviour and the results they gained in the arts, the relevance of laddering is shown from a theoretical perspective. To also provide practical knowledge about the method, a test-case is performed, using laddering to study the consumer of a performing arts venue and their values relating to customer loyalty. The case shows how laddering leads to core values, clear communication paths able to be used by marketing and a new categorization of the audience. Even though there are limitations to laddering, for example that it is time consuming and requires ...

Introduction Customer satisfaction is the key to long term success of any organization (Peppers & Rogers, 2005). Keeping the importance of customer satisfaction in mind, banks need to maintain stable and close relationships with their customers. Customer satisfaction levels need to be judged. The application of the knowledge of customer satisfaction is imperative to establishing and maintaining a long-term relationship with customers and long-term competitiveness (Kumar & Reinartz, 2006). Banking is a high involvement industry. Banks recognize the fact that delivery of quality service to customers is essential for success and survival in today's global and competitive banking environment (Wang, Han, & Wen, 2003). Researchers have found that customer satisfaction has a measurable impact on purchase intentions (Carter, 2010), on customer retention (Voss & Voss, 2008) and on a firm's financial performance (Chalmeta, 2006). Customers' wants, needs, and expectations change qu...

Purpose – This paper aims to outline the fundamental assumptions regarding the laddering methodology (Reynolds and Gutman), examine how some “hard” laddering approaches meet or violate these assumptions, provide a review and comparison of a series of studies using “soft” and “hard” laddering approaches to examine the hierarchical structure of means-end theory, and assess if the discrepant conclusions from this series of studies may be attributed to violations of the fundamental assumptions of the laddering methodology. Design/methodology/approach – A series of published empirical works using “hard” and “soft” laddering approaches, which aim to examine the hierarchical structure of means-end theory (Gutman), are reviewed and compared to integrate research findings and to examine discrepancies. Discrepant conclusions, which appear to be attributable to violations of the assumptions underlying the laddering methodology, are explored through a reanalysis and reclassification of the cont...

Reflecting recent European and International trends, the Irish financial services sector has witnessed phenomenal technological and competitive developments, affecting consumer decision-making and behaviour and forcing financial suppliers to reassess their approach to setting customer expectations and assessing the consumer experience. This study, using a purposive sample of financial services managers and experts, shows suppliers increasingly struggling to practice external accountability to their customers and internal accountability to their employees. In terms of external accountability, suppliers identified numerous brand-related issues and challenges, including the increasing lack of brand differentiation and the difficulties in creating meaningful brand images, which are posing significant difficulties in creating positive and appealing customer expectations. In relation to internal accountability, suppliers highlighted the challenges associated with empowering their employees to provide a personal and superior service and meeting the evolving requirements of an increasingly diverse customer base. Recommendations are made in relation to the incorporation of consumer research, internal marketing and technology in order to provide a banking experience which facilitates supplier commitment and accountability to both customers and employees.

The Means-End-Chain model, originally developed to elicit customer values through consequential benefits and attributes of a product in marketing research, is becoming increasingly productive in other practical disciplines such as architecture and housing. Although initial applications of the means-end chain in Architecture were mostly in housing choice and preference at individualised level, it is progressively being applied in the personalised design of mass housing schemes and housing and urban upgrade programmes at the community level. Therefore, this scoping review examined the Means-End-Chain theory as a model with high prospects in Architecture and related disciplines and its application for participatory housing personalisation at the community level. The study found that preferences for housing, like any other product-choice behaviour, have value orientation directed towards achieving specific goals, which can be analysed using its physical attributes. An attempt was finally made to develop a preliminary research framework for the application of MEC in indigenous housing personalisation through community participation.

The global climate crisis continues to endanger the well-being of natural environments and the people who depend on them. Building elements of environmental identity may better connect youth to the changes underway. However, little work has investigated how experiencing a climate change-impacted landscape may support environmental identity shifts. This study explores such shifts in the context of a wilderness science program for youth in a glacier-dominated landscape with visible signatures of long-term change. We use a qualitative approach to investigate environmental identity development, relying on Clayton's (2003) environmental identity model as a theoretical construct. We find that two aspects of environmental identity shifted the most: (1) relatedness to the natural environment and (2) pro-environmental motivation. Emergent themes from the analysis reveal that these changes arise from better understanding how ecosystems are interconnected, understanding human impacts on the environment, and witnessing first-hand the scale and rate of glacier loss. Our results imply that educators can privilege these aspects to support environmental identity shifts. Ultimately, our findings highlight that personally witnessing a visibly climateimpacted landscape may be powerful in promoting better environmental stewardship in response to the climate crisis.

Anthropogenic climate change is causing significant changes to the cryosphere. Glaciers and glacier tourism are directly impacted, and glacier tourism operators must adapt to the disappearance of their main resource. Recent studies carried out in this context have demonstrated that Last Chance Tourism (LCT) has emerged as the motivation behind viewing or visiting a natural resource before it disappears. The most frequently visited French glacier is Montenvers-Mer-de-Glace (1920 m a.s.l.), which is becoming a LCT destination. Results from both qualitative and quantitative methods demonstrate that visitors come to Montenvers mainly for its environmental features and for LCT purposes. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) shows that motivations can be classified into LCT and five other factors. Qualitative data identify ‘Fame’ as an unexpected motivational category, and different motivational dimensions of each category are explored. Concerning LCT motivation, four dimensions are revealed: observing, understanding, a sense of urgency, and witnessing environmental changes. Moreover, the more respondents are aware of climate change, the more they consider LCT motivations important. These results lead us to link LCT to cognitive dissonance. Finally, we propose that future research should explore LCT and its relationship with media coverage and pro-environmental behaviour.

Cars that provide pleasure: a study about the connection between attributes and personal values of buyers from São paulo Automóveis que geram prazer: um estudo sobre a conexão entre atributos e valores pessoais de compradores paulistanos Coches que generan placer: un estudio sobre la relación entre los valores y los atributos personales de los compradores de São paulo

Purpose-This paper aims to explore how volunteers choose one nonprofit organisation (NPO) rather than another. It identifies the drivers of choice, and the relationship between them, to enable NPOs to strengthen their volunteer recruitment. Design/methodology/approach-A total of 51 service-delivery volunteers were interviewed, drawn from 5 leading NPOs. A laddering technique was used to understand the context in which the choice of organisation was made and the underlying personal needs and goals. The data was analysed using means-end chain (MEC) methodology to uncover the relationships between, and hierarchy of, the decision drivers. Findings-Brand, cause, and role were found to be important in meeting personal needs and goals through volunteering. The paper makes three contributions. Firstly, it presents a clearer understanding of NPO choice through adopting an integrated theoretical perspective. Secondly, it identifies the decision-making process and key relationships between the attributes of the NPO, the consequences for the volunteer, and the connection to their personal needs. Finally, the study makes an important contribution to literature through presenting a new conceptual framework of volunteer decision-making in the nonprofit context to act as a catalyst for future research. Research limitations/implications-This research is both impactful through, and limited by, its context selection: regular service-delivery volunteers from five NPOs within two causes. The paper presents a rich research stream to extend this understanding to other nonprofit stakeholders, other causes including medical volunteer, and smaller NPOs. Practical implications-In an increasingly competitive nonprofit environment with a growing need to support the vulnerable in society, NPO sustainability is dependent on their ability to recruit new volunteers. NPOs compete not only with other organisations with similar causes but also those offering similar volunteering roles, and other uses of time to meet personal needs such as sport, career, or community. Understanding how volunteers make their choice of NPO rather than other uses of their time is of vital importance to make the most effective use of scarce marketing resources. This paper contributes to that practitioner understanding. Originality/value-To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to extend the understanding of generic motivations of volunteers to consider specific choice of NPO. Unlike previous literature, the authors bring together theory on brand, cause, and role with personal needs. The authors are also the first to apply MEC methodology to the nonprofit context to uncover the personal underlying, less salient reasons behind NPO choice and the relationship between them.

Housing interiors are the environments where most of life's activities take place. The finishing of this housing interior is of paramount significance, and house owners and prospective house owners always give premium to how their housing interiors are finished. The choices of finishes materials always provoke and create certain motivations and perceptual orientations while these choice and preference activities are being undertaken. This paper presents the perceptual orientation with respect to housing floor finish choices and preferences in Yola, Nigeria. The study was framed within the Means-End Chain (MEC) model, and preferences. 15 respondents were interviewed using the laddering interviewing technique. Prior to the laddering interviews, a structured questionnaire survey was administered to 150 respondents to elicit the relevant housing floor finishes attributes. The results revealed that eleven (11) identified unique perceptual orientation pathways were established, motivated by five user values; intervened by four expected functional affordances. The findings reinforced the design expectations of housing users/owners for finishing their housing interiors.

Human values are at the heart of our lives. We all hold a set of values that influence our actions. The protection of the natural environment is no exception to this rule. That is why the study of human values is key to reaching the imperative of sustainability. In this conceptual paper, we aim to (1) integrate the key theories and models explaining the influence of human values on behavior and to (2) identify factors that might have previously been overlooked. Drawing from a range of disciplines, this article proposes an integrated model mapping the influence of human values on behavior. It also puts forward the concept of consequences as an emerging factor that could play an important role in this relationship. Recommendations are to extend the research to an empirical investigation of the model and to develop the definition of the concept of consequences and the role they play in the influence of values on consumer behavior.

This study examined the link between personal connection and customer citizenship behaviour. Personal connection was treated unidimensionally while customer citizenship behaviour was assessed through positive word of mouth, display of affiliation, sportsmanship and suggestion for improvement. The population of the study comprised customers of healthcare brands in south-south Nigeria. An explanatory research design was adopted, while a structured questionnaire served as the research instrument. Face, content and construct validity tests were employed to determine the validity of the instrument while its reliability was determined through the Cronbach's alpha test. The Spearman's rank order correlation served as the test statistic relying on SPSS version 24.0. The study observed that personal connection relates to customer citizenship behaviour as personal connection posted strong, positive and statistically significant correlation with all the measures of customer citizenship behaviour accommodated in the study, with personal connection and sportsmanship posting the highest coefficient. The study concluded that personal connection predicts customer citizenship behaviour or that customer citizenship behaviour assessed through sportsmanship, display of affiliation, suggestion for improvement and positive word of mouth depends on personal connection. The study recommends that healthcare providers that seek to elicit or enhance citizenship behaviour of customers should encourage and incentivize their service employees to get personally connected to customers by taking personal interest in customers' wellbeing, building strong sense of kinship, and creating genuine accord with them. Keywords: Customer citizenship behaviour, display of affiliation, personal connection, positive word-of-mouth, sportsmanship, suggestions for improvement.

Housing interiors are the environments where most of life's activities take place. The finishing of this housing interior is of paramount significance, and house owners and prospective house owners always give premium to how their housing interiors are finished. The choices of finishes materials always provoke and create certain motivations and perceptual orientations while these choice and preference activities are being undertaken. This paper presents the perceptual orientation with respect to housing floor finish choices and preferences in Yola, Nigeria. The study was framed within the Means-End Chain (MEC) model, and preferences. 15 respondents were interviewed using the laddering interviewing technique. Prior to the laddering interviews, a structured questionnaire survey was administered to 150 respondents to elicit the relevant housing floor finishes attributes. The results revealed that eleven (11) identified unique perceptual orientation pathways were established, motivated by five user values; intervened by four expected functional affordances. The findings reinforced the design expectations of housing users/owners for finishing their housing interiors.

Purpose: In an uninterrupted close encounter such as spa and beauty industry service, employees' emotional competency is said to successes with productive rapport and results into customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, these relationships are yet to be empirically examined in Malaysia Spa and beauty industry. So this study focuses on investigating the employee emotional competency in establishing service consumer satisfaction and loyalty and mediate role of rapport in Malaysia Spa and beauty industry.
Design: The framework is drawn from affect as information theory, which propose to the notion that emotions speaks on the situation of human behaviors, emotional competence came to view from social intelligent, which was described as capability to administer human behaviors such as understand between a male and female (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Structural model is generated and is tested on sample of 250 customers at the spa and beauty firms in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Data is analyzed using IBM AMOS.
Findings: Employee emotional competence (EEC) do have a direct positive influence on customer satisfaction of (2.836) and EEC without customer satisfaction have a negative (1.915) influence to customer loyalty. However, Rapport did have a high positive influence of (5.167) on customer satisfaction and even higher influence of (8.689) to customer loyalty.
Practical Implications: this report will enlighten the managers in Malaysia Spa and beauty industry on the extent to which rapport and employee's emotional competency can boost the organization towards service consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

From the seclusion of monastic life to the noise of Silicon Valley, the ancient practice of mindfulness has ‘come out of the cloister.’ As an antidote to mindless cognition and behavior, the practice of mindfulness–—with its principle of grounding attention in the present moment–—has been shown to have powerful and positive effects at both the individual and the collective level and in fields as wideranging as medicine, schooling, prison programs, law and negotiation, business, and even the army. This installment of Marketing & Technology introduces mindfulness to managers and explores its potential for enhancing the service encounter. We begin by reviewing the two main conceptualizations of mindfulness: the cognitive and the contemplative. We then explore the service encounter from the perspective of emotional labor and show how mindfulness can change surface acting into deep
acting, thereby significantly improving the service encounter for both the consumer and provider. We also explore the other benefits of mindfulness and their application to the service encounter: adaptability, flexibility, and creativity. We conclude by sharing resources for managers interested in implementing mindfulness training.

By understanding effective sales management from the perspective of sales people, this study adds a new dimension to our view of sales managers. Drawing from the sales literature, this research tests relationships between key variables identified as contributing to sales manager effectiveness from previous sales research. Listening skills, open communication, and effective feedback are positioned as antecedents to self-efficacy while customer relationship development, representative job performance, and satisfaction with one's sales manager represent the outcome variables. Results support the importance of listening skills and assert that self-efficacy plays a key role in each of the outcome variables.

When one deliberates one has reasons both for and against doing something.  Could the reasons for OBJECTIVELY outweigh the reasons against, in the sense that someone who thought otherwise would simply be wrong?  (This is not the same question as that of whether any of the competing reasons could be objectively valid in itself.)  Three seemingly relevant kinds of ethical theory are examined: virtue ethics, utilitarianism and moral absolutism.  It is suggested that the proponents of these have all so far failed to show that they can give compelling objective reasons for acting on certain reasons rather than others.  We so far lack any conception of what sort of second-order considerations could adjudicate between competing reasons.  This is not so much an ‘error theory’ in J. L. Mackie’s sense as an admission of ignorance.

In Lebanon, the agricultural sector suffers from both internal and external problems that
opposed its development. Relatively high production costs, unregulated use of chemicals
and the absence of extension services can be considered the most important in addition
to groundwater pollution, high-level migration towards cities, lack of economic policy
for internal and external market, and finally the inability of the government to finance
the sector.
In this context, organic farming might be considered as a possible alternative to the current
crisis of the sector, and could be a solution to many of the abovementioned problems. In an
attempt to thoroughly understand why Lebanese farmers do not apply the organic methods of
production, this paper illustrates the results of a study on farmers’ motivations for adopting
either the organic or the conventional farming practices. In order to carry out the research,
the means-end approach (Reynolds and Gutman, 1988) has been applied. The analysis
methodology traditionally used for consumer analysis has been modified and adapted to investigate
the cognitive structures (objective networks) of 35 Lebanese farmers. The results
help understand the reasons determining the choice of the type of agriculture to adopt and
underlie the diversity of the motivations between organic and conventional farmers.

I confirm that the submitted work is my own. No element has been previously submitted for assessment, or where it has, it has been correctly referenced. I have also clearly identified and fully acknowledged all material that is entitled to be attributed to others (whether published or unpublished) using the referencing system set out in the programme handbook. I agree that the University may submit my work to means of checking this, such as the plagiarism detection service Turnitin® UK. I confirm that I understand that assessed work that has been shown to have been plagiarised will be penalised. By typing 'Yes' in this box, I am stating that I have read and understood the above, and am confirming I am in compliance. Please note that non-compliant work will not be accepted. YES If you have been assisted with the presentation of your work please complete the information below and type 'Yes'' in this box to confirm compliance with the statement below. NO In completing this work I have been assisted with its presentation by: [state name and contact details of assistant] and, if requested, I agree to submit the draft material that was completed solely by me prior to its presentational improvement.

This paper sets out to explore how financial services (FS) organizations manage the customer experience. It aims to establish what practices are used, to articulate the role of the FS context in influencing the choice of practices, and to identify how these practices support experience co-creation from the perspective of the organization.

Designing houses matching user's values is essential for delivering quality housing. However, designer-user gap and difficulties in identifying Iranian household values have resulted in developing inappropriate houses. Therefore, this study has been set to investigate user perceptions of value creators in dwelling space design and to clarify user's perceptual orientation toward housing attributes. Data were gathered from the occupants of mass-produced apartments built in Bushehr, Iran through two sequential complementary stages. Examining 15 occupants using MEC model and soft laddering were followed by distributing 150 hard laddering questionnaire surveys. Based on our findings, value creators encompass psychological and functional aspects. Value creators included provision of beautiful environment. Furthermore, designing efficient building which also provides adequate space was vital. Providing occupant comfort and privacy and at the same time enhancing their intimacy and integrity were also seen as crucial. The desired aspects of housing environment also involved a pleasant environment which improves human vitality. Providing designers with occupants' mental process and perception results in enhancing the appropriateness of dwelling space design.

The laddering method is used for interviewing students in order to predict their " deeper " goals for their life. The answers of the student are used to create the Attribute – Consequences – Values (ACV) diagram, and from it we move to the Hierarchical Value Map (HVM), quantifying the chains all the students' give to the interviewers with their answers. Knowing the set of values for each student group we can focus on their career, providing and promoting the appropriate courses for their career development.

We report on a comparative study of the likeability and usability of a cuddly toy interface versus a keyboard interface. We put 35 preschoolers to the test and asked them to play a 3D game via a keyboard and via a cuddly toy interface. Afterwards the usability (user-friendliness) and the likeability (joy-ofuse) of both interfaces were assessed. Our results indicate that the cuddly toy interface was neither more likeable nor more usable than the keyboard interface. Based on additional qualitative data, we argument that the causes might be fatigue, a lack of meaningful use of gestures, and the occurrence of 'satisficing'.

Laddering is an interview technique that provides rich qualitative data, and subsequent content analysis allows crossing over from qualitative to a quantitative measurement. However, the method is not tailored to data coming from user experience studies, and resulting data analysis of UX Laddering studies risks to lack scientific rigor with respect to the reliability and validity of the data. Therefore, we present LadderUX and point out the design rationale for its special features that help UX researchers measure what they actually set out to measure, ensuring that the resulting dominant means-end chains form an accurate representation of the population under study.

In this paper, we suggest Laddering as a promising empirical method to evaluate the impact of tangibility on young children's user experiences. In the first part of this paper, we explain what Laddering is. We explicate the conceptual foundations of Laddering, discuss the typical Laddering interviewing technique and focus on the Laddering data treatment. Then, we argue why Laddering might be especially valuable in a context of UX evaluations of tangible and embedded interfaces with children. In the second part of this paper, we present a case study, comparing three cuddly toy interfaces, and we demonstrate how Laddering can be used with preschoolers to explain preferences between these tangible interfaces. The case study confirms that Laddering can contribute to verifying the assumed benefits of tangibility. Laddering revealed how specific cuddly toy attributes as opposed to non-cuddly toy attributes led to specific benefits for the young participants. However, contrary to research findings from developmental literature, only children aged 5 years and older proved to be capable of performing as full Laddering respondents.

The concept of the Laddering technique is composed of a series of interview questions. The purpose of these questions is to uncover the hidden links between the choices an individual makes and the underlying motivations behind those choices. The insight gained from this process is invaluable and has numerous practical applications. Laddering is a methodological measurement technique that the Means-End Chain (MEC) model utilizes. Clinical psychologists first introduced the laddering technique in the 1960s, as a method of understanding people's core values and beliefs. This paper reviews the laddering methodological technique, and presents some research examples conducted within the domain of housing environment research.

A Means-end Chain (MEC) approach was used to examine the outbound travel motivation at the attributes/ consequences/ values levels, as well as the structure and interrelationships between them, in order to link between the destination attributes with motivational drivers. A two-step process was used with 60 in-depth interviews using a soft-laddering method, and 600 hard laddering surveys conducted.  Six key means-end chains emerged from the data analysis serving as the basis for understanding the underlying motivations of Chinese travellers to travel outbound. This study not only enriches the literature of travel motivation, but also provides meaningful insights into the research on the Chinese outbound leisure travel market, which is an emerging market with strong potential for future growth.

This study examines the explanation of brand persuasion through communicating means-end levels oi informati~ (attributes, consequences and values) in commercials. It is argued that consumers perceive the personal re.canoe and desirability of product attributes in terms of their association with personal consequences of product usage. Similarly, the relevance and desirability of personal consequences are derived from their association wi*h a consumer's personal values. It is predicted and supported that the strength of association between means-end information communicated by an ad wiil contribute to the explanation of brand persuasion. Support is also obtained for the prediction that the effect on brand persuasion of communicating means-end associations will be stronger for those who arc. not Ic, yal users of the. brand, since those persons ha-,'c, more to learn about the. pcrs,~na I rclc;'a~e and desirability of the means-end information provided by the associations between levels.

This paper presents a methodological effort to connect the specifics of technologies to the details of social practices, in an attempt to deepen our understanding of evolving sociotechnical cultures. More specifically, this paper describes a methodological framework that makes use of online discussions as a vital source of data. The reason the paper focuses on online discussion is that the Internet has become a natural habitat for discussions of high-end technologies, be they physical products or online services. The framework combines interpretative research and attribute-consequence-value (ACV) chain theory – a theory commonly applied to market and consumer research – to conceptualize and explore evolving prosumer cultures through online discussions. The benefit of using ACV chain theory is that it explicitly connects products and services to practices and values. The proposed methodological framework identifies three central techniques to elicit and analyse ACV chains from online prosumer discussions: (1) attribute analysis (2) Internet forum data collection and (3) thematic analysis. The paper goes on to exemplify the application of this framework by examining the sociotechnical co-evolution of the friend list – a backbone feature of many social networking services. In summary, this paper shows how ACV chains can be fruitfully applied to explore evolving prosumer cultures and make the vital connection between technical features and emerging cultures.