Health literacy is a major issue today for most governments and healthcare organizations. One of ... more Health literacy is a major issue today for most governments and healthcare organizations. One of the critical areas is the inability of sex education efforts to alleviate the problem of teenage pregnancies in many developed countries on one hand and improve the contraception prevalence rates in developing countries around the world. In this paper, we investigate the issue of health literacy in Singapore in the context of reproductive health, sex education and contraception. We first review the extant literature in the health literacy, sex education and contraception followed by a discussion of the role played by various parties involved including the healthcare providers, male partners, friends, colleagues, family members, mass-media and internet. We also describe the findings of our empirical study in Singapore and suggest some directions for future research.
Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including ... more Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author's name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pagination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award.
Purpose This paper aims to combine the social–technical systems and social exchange theories with... more Purpose This paper aims to combine the social–technical systems and social exchange theories with the resource-based view of the firm, to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) service firms manage their social and technical resources to manage customer relationships. Design/methodology/approach An online survey-based study with 321 managers working in Australian small and medium (SME) firms is used to test hypotheses about the sequential and substitutional impact of four social and technical resources (service quality, satisfaction, trust and commitment) on customer loyalty, using both offline and online platforms. Findings The findings show that both social and technical chains of effects are viable channels for B2B service firms to build customer loyalty; however, mixing of both social and technical resources results in the weakening of both these chains. Research limitations/implications The results based on B2B service relationships between Australian SME firms and their ba...
A central question in consumer research is how consumers make purchase decisions. Prior research ... more A central question in consumer research is how consumers make purchase decisions. Prior research has highlighted a need to explore the relationships between scales representing different forms of purchase behavior, in order to yield insights into the structure of purchase-related personality traits, and help understand how these traits are organized within an individual consumer (Baumgartner 2002). An attempt is made in this thesis to unravel some of the complex psychological processes underlying hedonic purchase behaviors with three essays. Next, the motivation for each essay, the conceptual frameworks and methodologies adopted are introduced briefly. Essay 1: Hedonic Purchase Behaviors Hedonic purchase behaviors are defined as those which are influenced by feelings rather than logical thinking and which are motivated by psychosocial needs rather than functional benefits. Impulse buying (Rook and Hoch 1985; Rook 1987) and variety seeking (McAlister and Pessemier 1982; Givon 1984; Hoyer and Nancy 1984) are two of the most common hedonic purchase behaviors. However, despite their widespread prevalence and several striking similarities in their underlying motivations, there is almost no published empirical research investigating impulse buying in conjunction with variety seeking (Kacen and Lee 2002; Ratner and Kahn 2002). Prior researchers have suggested that such an investigation would help in understanding the psychological processes underlying these behaviors and may even pave the way towards a general theory of hedonic purchase behaviors (Baumgartner 2002). This need is addressed in the first essay by first reviewing the literature in impulse buying and variety seeking fields to identify several relevant traits and situational factors.
Throughout human history, people expressed admiration for heroes who possessed extraordinary abil... more Throughout human history, people expressed admiration for heroes who possessed extraordinary abilities and achieved superhuman goals. For many, modern-day celebrities fulfil this role and are prominent in various marketing communications activities. This paper addresses the literature review gaps and provides an in-depth review of the psychological and social psychological perspectives which are relevant to the celebrity endorsement literature. The contributions of this paper consist of a detailed analysis of most important consumercelebrity relationships, key emotional drivers (e.g., envy and admiration) of celebrity influence and the development of an original conceptual model. The conceptual model pulls together the past research and identifies new research gaps, which synthesises different research perspectives and provides a sound theoretical basis guiding future researchers and marketing managers.
Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 2015
This article extends the concept of customer perceived value (CPV) to the tourist outshopping con... more This article extends the concept of customer perceived value (CPV) to the tourist outshopping context and explores the differences in antecedents and outcomes of CPV between cross-border and international outshoppers. A large-scale field survey in Hong Kong with cross-border outshoppers from mainland China and international shoppers from four Western countries (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States) shows that perceived product quality, risk, and value for money have a stronger effect on CPV for cross-border outshoppers, and employee service quality and lifestyle congruence for international outshoppers. CPV also has a stronger positive effect on satisfaction, word of mouth, and repeat purchase intentions for cross-border outshoppers, whereas satisfaction has a stronger positive impact on word of mouth and repeat purchase intentions for international outshoppers. We discuss the conceptual contribution and managerial implications of our findings for internation...
PurposeThis paper aims to examine the role that personal cultural orientations play in customer a... more PurposeThis paper aims to examine the role that personal cultural orientations play in customer attributions in intercultural service encounters.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model was developed depicting the relationships between service delivery outcome, personal cultural orientations and customer attributions. Data were collected from 640 Chinese and Western customers using scenario-based experiments in a restaurant context to assess the hypothesized relationships in the model.FindingsThe findings show that compared to service delivery success, customers tend to hold service employee and firm responsible for service delivery failure rather than themselves and cultural differences. Moreover, personal cultural orientations partially moderated the influence of the service delivery outcome on customer attributions.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could adopt different methodologies such as critical incident techniques and surveys to replicate the study.Pract...
Cellular physiology and biochemistry : international journal of experimental cellular physiology, biochemistry, and pharmacology, 2016
Similar to tumor cells, activated T-lymphocytes generate ATP mainly by glycolytic degradation of ... more Similar to tumor cells, activated T-lymphocytes generate ATP mainly by glycolytic degradation of glucose. Lymphocyte glucose uptake involves non-concentrative glucose carriers of the GLUT family. In contrast to GLUT isoforms, Na+-coupled glucose-carrier SGLT1 accumulates glucose against glucose gradients and is effective at low extracellular glucose concentrations. The present study explored expression and regulation of SGLT1 in activated murine splenic cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) and human Jurkat T cells. FACS analysis, immunofluorescence, confocal microscopy, chemiluminescence and Western blotting were employed to estimate SGLT1 expression, function and regulation in lymphocytes, as well as dual electrode voltage clamp in SGLT1 ± JAK3 expressing Xenopus oocytes to quantify the effect of janus kinase3 (JAK3) on SGLT1 function. SGLT1 is expressed in murine CTLs and also in human Jurkat T cells. 2-(N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino)-2-deoxyglucose uptake was significantly decre...
International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, 2015
Purpose– This paper aims to introduce a comprehensive conceptual framework to study the influence... more Purpose– This paper aims to introduce a comprehensive conceptual framework to study the influence of “consumer ambivalence towards contraception” and “intercourse frequency” along with attitudes toward contraception and satisfaction with most familiar contraceptive method, on contraceptive usage and intentions.Design/methodology/approach– A team of trained female interviewers used a structured questionnaire to conduct a clinic-intercept survey with 588 sexually active female consumers in two major hospitals and six randomly chosen clinics in Singapore (response rate = 29 per cent).Findings– Consumer attitudes toward contraception, satisfaction with most familiar contraceptive method and intercourse frequency have a positive effect on contraceptive usage. Consumer ambivalence toward contraception has a negative effect on usage and intentions and it negatively moderates the effects of attitudes, satisfaction and intercourse frequency.Research limitations/implications– This paper explo...
Purpose – This paper aims to explore the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercu... more Purpose – This paper aims to explore the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and intercultural competence on the impact of service outcome and perceived cultural distance, respectively, on interaction comfort and perceived service quality in intercultural service encounters. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with university students was used, using service encounter scenarios to manipulate service outcome (failure or success) and photos of service employees to manipulate perceived cultural distance (low vs high). Findings – As hypothesized, the impact of service outcome on interaction comfort and perceived service quality is moderated negatively by consumer ethnocentrism, whereas the impact of perceived cultural distance is moderated positively by intercultural competence. Research limitations/implications – An experimental design using imaginary service scenarios was used in a single service context (i.e. restaurant) with university...
Purpose– This paper aims to show the effect of brand equity, marketing investment and product dif... more Purpose– This paper aims to show the effect of brand equity, marketing investment and product differentiation on price in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), multinational companies (MNCs) and retailers (private labels). Academics have been researching brand equity, return on investment and effects of product differentiation for many years, but there has been little work that has taken a holistic view.Design/methodology/approach– The author studied an aggregate data set for 735 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, taken from Nielsen (10,282 households). Regression analysis was used in the first step, a cluster analysis in the second step of modeling procedure.Findings– The study suggests that brand equity, marketing investment and product differentiation are closely associated with price. Using a cluster analysis, the authors found that the premium price is significantly associated with product differentiation based on innovation and company type.Practical implications– The ma...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how counterfeit users estimate the probabil... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how counterfeit users estimate the probability of being detected and how this probability affects their counterfeit consumption behaviour. Specifically, it addresses three questions: do perceived social consequences influence counterfeit users’ probability estimate of being detected? What is the psychological mechanism underlying the estimation of this probability? And how does this probability estimate affect counterfeit purchase and usage intentions? Design/methodology/approach – The authors used three scenario-based experimental studies with university students in Hong Kong, a place where counterfeit products are widely available. First study used a factitious brand of jeans as the stimulus and the other two studies used a Ralph Lauren polo shirt. In each study, the authors measured participants’ responses towards counterfeit purchase and the probability of being detected after they read the relevant brand information and had ...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a comprehensive framework incorporating servi... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a comprehensive framework incorporating service roles (customer vs employee) and outcomes (failure vs success) as moderators in the process by which perceived cultural distance (PCD) affects customers and employees in intercultural service encounters (ICSEs). Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a 2×2×3 between-subjects experimental design with Chinese undergraduate students, manipulating service role (customer and employee), outcome (failure and success) and PCD (low, medium and high). Findings – Compared to service employees, customers perceive higher cultural distance and lower interaction comfort (IC), service quality and satisfaction; and stronger negative moderating effect of PCD in ICSEs. Compared to service success, failure results in lower IC; perceived service quality and satisfaction, and these effects are stronger for customers (vs employees). Research limitations/implications – The authors used shorter versio...
Boundary Spanning Elements and the Marketing Function in Organizations, 2015
Services organizations face ever-increasing customer demands and competition in the marketplace, ... more Services organizations face ever-increasing customer demands and competition in the marketplace, especially in the face-to-face adaptive sales encounters at retail level, making it extremely important to recruit the right kind of salespeople and give them the right kind of training to serve their customers better. However, there is little prior research that combines these two perspectives in the adaptive selling context. We address this gap with a comprehensive model including four salesperson characteristics (attractiveness, communication ability, expertise and trustworthiness) as antecedents, three service performance behaviors (service manner, extra role and need identification) as mediators, and three important outcome behaviors (willingness to disclose, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions) as consequences. We also test this model using a field-survey with actual customers in a retail setting in Hong Kong. Our findings help demystify the adaptive selling by unraveling the customer evaluation and judgment processes.
In this paper we examine the differences in the impact of message framing and scarcity appeal typ... more In this paper we examine the differences in the impact of message framing and scarcity appeal types in advertisements on the consumers with varying levels of need for uniqueness (NFU). Results from two experimental studies support a two-way NFU x scarcity interaction, wherein participants with lower levels of NFU show a greater impact of demand (vs. supply) scarcity appeal on their attitudes and purchase intentions; whereas the participants with higher levels of NFU show a greater impact of supply (vs. demand) appeal. In addition, we found support for a three-way interaction, which shows that both under gain and loss frames, participants with lower levels of NFU prefer demand over supply appeal whereas under the loss frame, participants with higher levels of NFU prefer supply over demand appeal. We discuss the conceptual contribution and managerial implications of these findings.
During virus infection and autoimmune disease, inflammatory dendritic cells (iDCs) differentiate ... more During virus infection and autoimmune disease, inflammatory dendritic cells (iDCs) differentiate from blood monocytes and infiltrate infected tissue. Following acute infection with hepatotropic viruses, iDCs are essential for re-stimulating virus-specific CD8 þ T cells and therefore contribute to virus control. Here we used the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) model system to identify novel signals, which influence the recruitment and activation of iDCs in the liver. We observed that intrinsic expression of Toso (Faim3, FclR) influenced the differentiation and activation of iDCs in vivo and DCs in vitro. Lack of iDCs in Toso-deficient (Toso-/-) mice reduced CD8 þ T-cell function in the liver and resulted in virus persistence. Furthermore, Toso-/-DCs failed to induce autoimmune diabetes in the rat insulin promoter-glycoprotein (RIP-GP) autoimmune diabetes model. In conclusion, we found that Toso has an essential role in the differentiation and maturation of iDCs, a process that is required for the control of persistence-prone virus infection.
Location management is the most important and crucial task when we talk about Mobile Computing. S... more Location management is the most important and crucial task when we talk about Mobile Computing. Sometimes it is very difficult to perform some task without knowing the exact location of the user. It is very important task in mobile computing to manage location information of each and every user. In cellular network the area is divided into cells. When the user changes location, an update occurs. The main goal of any location management strategy is to provide efficient search-updates. In this paper we have discussed profile based location update strategy in mobile computing.
There is neither a consensus about the dimensionality of the consumer impulsiveness construct, no... more There is neither a consensus about the dimensionality of the consumer impulsiveness construct, nor sufficient evidence about the validity and crosscultural measurement equivalence of its various scales. We address these gaps by using cross-cultural differences in control orientations as the conceptual foundation for a more robust consumer impulsiveness scale. Specifically, we demonstrate that unlike individualistic consumers, collectivistic consumers distinguish between deliberate self-indulgence and involuntary loss of selfcontrol, as reflected in the three-factor structure (prudence, self-indulgence, and self-control) for the collectivists and a two-factor structure (prudence and hedonism) for the individualists. We also discuss some implications and limitations of this research.
Offshore outsourcing is a fast-growing trend in the world economy today, and it is changing the w... more Offshore outsourcing is a fast-growing trend in the world economy today, and it is changing the way business is done across national boundaries. Specifically, customers are increasingly interacting with service employees located in other countries resulting in many instances of customer backlash due to poor perceived service quality and dissatisfaction. Prior research argues that service firms with strong brands may be less vulnerable to such negative reaction from customers. However, recent studies show that consumer ethnocentrism and unfavorable attitudes towards offshore outsourcing may adversely impact perceived service quality, satisfaction, complaint behavior, brand image, brand loyalty, and repeat purchase intentions. This chapter summarizes these diverse findings and highlights the importance of customer education and employee training to prevent the erosion of brand image and loyalty on one hand, and improve perceived service quality and customer satisfaction on the other, for companies using offshore outsourcing of customer services.
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Papers by Piyush Sharma