Advertising, incentives, and the upsell: how advertising differentially moderates customer- vs. retailer-directed price incentives' impact on consumers' preferences for premium products.

Many durable goods firms use price promotion strategies and advertising simultaneously to impact consumer preferences among vertically differentiated product offerings. In this research, we use a large secondary dataset of automotive purchases ( = 323,959) to investigate how advertising spending differentially moderates the positive impact of both customer- and retailer-directed price incentives on consumers' premium level of purchase for vertically differentiated products. We find that higher advertising spending magnifies the positive impact of customer-directed price incentives on consumers' preference for more premium purchases.

Haptic-payment: Exploring vibration feedback as a means of reducing overspending in mobile payment.

The proliferation of mobile payment applications in recent years has decoupled the physical act of paying from the consumption experience. Prior research suggests that this decreases the psychological sense of loss or 'pain' that consumers feel when making a purchase with more direct payment types (such as cash) and leads them to spend more money. To help address this issue, the present research explores, designs, and tests haptic vibration feedback configurations aimed at restoring the 'pain' of paying with cashless payment options (i.

What's my age again? The influence of subjective age on consumer health-related attitudes.

We examine how shifts in subjective age influence consumer health-related attitudes. In Study 1, participants made to feel subjectively young (vs. old) exhibited more positive attitudes after viewing a health-related marketing message.

Service line structure and decision-maker attention in three health systems: Implications for patient-centered care.

Background: Scholars have noted a disconnect between the level at which structure is typically examined (the organization) and the level at which the relevant coordination takes place (service delivery). Accordingly, our understanding of the role structure plays in care coordination is limited.

Purpose: In this article, we explore service line structure, with an aim of advancing our understanding of the role service line structure plays in producing coordinated, patient-centered care.

Sugar, perceived healthfulness, and satiety: When does a sugary preload lead people to eat more?

In this research, we examine the interplay between physiological and psychological factors that determine whether the sugar level of a preload increases or decreases consumption on a subsequent snack-eating task. In study 1, participants who drank a high-sugar protein shake (which they believed to be healthy) consumed more subsequent snacks than participants who drank a low-sugar protein shake. Study 2 replicated these findings, but only when the shake was labeled as "healthy.

The joint relationship between organizational design factors and HR practice factors on direct care workers' job satisfaction and turnover intent.

Background: Human resource (HR) practices, such as training and communication, have been linked to positive employee job commitment and lower turnover intent for direct care workers (DCWs). Not many studies have looked at the combined interaction of HR practices and organizational structure.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational structure (centralization, formalization, and span of control) and HR practices (training, horizontal communication, and vertical communication) on DCW's job satisfaction and turnover intent.

Workforce implications of injury among home health workers: evidence from the National Home Health Aide Survey.

Purpose Of Study:  The direct care workforce continues to rank as one of the most frequently injured employee groups in North America. Occupational health and safety studies have shown that workplace injuries translate into negative outcomes for workers and their employers. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Organization of Work and Occupational Safety and Health framework is used to examine (a) relationships between injuries and work outcomes as reported by home health aides (HHAs) and (b) the likely efficacy of employee training and supervisor support in reducing worker risk for injury.

Organizing for performance: what does the empirical literature reveal about the influence of organizational factors on hospital financial performance?

This chapter reviews and integrates the empirical literature on the influence of organizational factors on hospital financial performance. Five categories of organizational characteristics that research has addressed are identified and examined as part of the review: ownership, governance, integration, management strategy, and quality. With some exceptions, our review reveals a general lack of consistency and conclusiveness across studies in each area.

Organizational factors associated with the use of information systems in nursing homes.

Purpose: The use of information systems (ISs) in nursing homes is gradually increasing, yet little is known about the factors that promote the use of these systems. Using resource dependency theory as the conceptual framework, this study examines how chain membership, ownership status, and innovativeness are associated with ISs use in nursing homes.

Design And Methods: We analyzed the results of the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey.

Implementation of the Better Jobs Better Care demonstration: lessons for long-term care workforce initiatives.

Purpose: Better Jobs Better Care (BJBC) was a long-term care workforce demonstration that sought to improve recruitment and retention of direct care workers by changing public policy and management practice. The purpose of this article is to document and assess BJBC's implementation, analyze factors affecting implementation, and draw lessons from it for other long-term care workforce initiatives.

Design And Methods: We analyzed qualitative data from project work plans and progress reports, and notes from telephone and in-person interviews with project staff, coalition stakeholders, and state policy experts.

What do direct care workers say would improve their jobs? Differences across settings.

Purpose: The study's goals were to understand what changes in management practices would most improve the jobs of frontline workers from the perspective of workers themselves and to analyze differences across settings.

Design And Methods: The baseline survey of direct care workers (N=3,468) conducted as part of the National Study of the Better Jobs Better Care demonstration asked the following: "What is the single most important thing your employer could do to improve your job as a direct care worker?" We coded the open-ended responses and grouped them into categories. We then compared the percentages of workers recommending changes in these categories across settings and interpreted them in the context of previous conceptual frameworks.

Job perceptions and intent to leave among direct care workers: evidence from the better jobs better care demonstrations.

Purpose: We assess how perceived rewards and problems with caregiving work and supervision relate to intent to leave among direct care workers who are employed in provider organizations participating in the Better Jobs Better Care (BJBC) demonstration; we also examine how these relationships vary by provider type.

Design And Methods: Direct care workers from 50 skilled nursing facilities, 39 home care agencies, 40 assisted living facilities, and 10 adult day services in five states completed a paper survey administered prior to the implementation of the BJBC interventions in each organization. We include direct care workers (n = 3,039) with complete data in the analyses using multinomial regression clustered by provider organization to compare those not at all likely to leave and those very likely to leave in the next year with a middle referent group who are somewhat likely to leave.

Nurse aide empowerment strategies and staff stability: effects on nursing home resident outcomes.

Purpose: This study examines the moderating effect of staff stability on the relationship between management practices used to empower nurse aides and resident outcomes in a multistate sample of nursing homes. An adaptation of Kanter's theory of structural power in organizations guided the framework for the model used in this study.

Design And Methods: Management practices and nurse aide staff stability measures were taken from a survey of directors of nursing (n = 156) and day-shift charge nurses (n = 430) in a stratified random sample of nursing facilities in Maine, Mississippi, New York, and Ohio (n = 156).

A structure-technology contingency analysis of caregiving in nursing facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the work associated with psychosocial and physical caregiving is structured within nursing facilities. Arguing from a contingency perspective, our central hypothesis is that because the technology underlying physical care is less variable and more interpretable and the process-outcome relationships underlying care processes are better understood than for psychosocial care, work in the physical care domain will be comparatively more mechanistically structured even though work in both domains is performed by the same paraprofessional nurse aide staff. Data for this analysis derive from a survey of unit charge nurses (n = 739) in 308 nursing homes in eight states undertaken as part of a large NIA-funded study of the relationship between nursing home organization and resident outcomes.

An exploration of job, organizational, and environmental factors associated with high and low nursing assistant turnover.

Purpose: This article examines factors that distinguish nursing facilities with very high and very low nursing assistant turnover rates from a middle referent group, exploring the possibility that high and low turnover are discrete phenomena with different antecedents.

Design And Methods: Data from a stratified sample of facilities in eight states, with directors of nursing as respondents (N = 288), were merged with facility-level indicators from the On-Line Survey Certification of Automated Records and county-level data from the Area Resource File. Multinominal logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with low (less than 6.

Managerial implications of corporate board involvement and perceived market competition for quality improvement in nursing homes.

This study examines the relationships among corporate board involvement, total quality management (TQM) adoption, perceived market competition, and the perceived effect of quality improvement (QI) activities for a sample of nursing homes in Pennsylvania. The findings of this study have several implications for healthcare managers interested in maximizing the effectiveness of QI efforts. Board involvement in quality improvement was an important predictor of QI outcomes in the areas of finance, resident care, and human resources.

Organizational and environmental factors associated with nursing home participation in managed care.

Objective: To develop and test a model, based on resource dependence theory, that identifies the organizational and environmental characteristics associated with nursing home participation in managed care.

Data Sources And Study Setting: Data for statistical analysis derived from a survey of Directors of Nursing in a sample of nursing homes in eight states (n = 308). These data were merged with data from the On-line Survey Certification and Reporting System, the Medicare Managed Care State/County Data File, and the 1995 Area Resource File.

Profiles of hospital, physician, and home health service use by older persons in rural areas.

Using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, we identify differences in hospital days, home health visits and physician office visits across five geographical categories. After controlling for individual characteristics and availability of health care providers, we find significant differences in service use. Results show greater use of home health care and less use of physician office visits and hospital care in rural areas.

Resource dependence and institutional elements in nursing home TQM adoption.

Objective: To examine the contextual attributes that influence nursing home TQM adoption, as informed by resource dependence and institutional theories.

Data Sources: A survey of licensed nursing home administrators in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during 1994-1995, the Medicare and Medicaid Annual Certification Survey (MMACS) data file, and the Area Resource File (ARF).

Study Design: Because the dependent variable (TQM adoption vs.

Specialization and diversification in the nursing home industry.

Recent increases in the types of services offered by nursing facilities and in the formation of specialized care units have resulted in the emergence of two distinct but broadly defined types of services: subacute and long-term care. The authors examine the market, regulatory, and structural incentives behind diversification and specialization and speculate how these trends will affect the future of the nursing home industry.

Quality improvement in nursing homes.

Regulation, competition, and cost containment have focused attention on quality improvement in nursing homes. Definition, measurement, and monitoring of quality are essential components of any program designed for quality assurance or continuous quality improvement.

Quality improvement in nursing care facilities: extent, impetus, and impact.

This study examines the extent, motivation, and performance implications of normal quality improvement (QI) programs in Pennsylvania nursing care facilities. Responses to a 20-item survey sent to facility administrators indicate that continuous quality improvement/total quality management (CQI/TQM) adopters are more motivated by quality of care and human resource concerns in implementing QI, more satisfied with the results of QI efforts, and more aware of a competitive environment than are non-adopters. There are few differences between adopters and non-adopters with respect to organizational characteristics or performance on quality of care measures.

Using TQM to improve management of home health aides.

Home health aides are at the front line of the home health industry, raising quality of care issues and human resource (HR) management challenges. Total quality management (TQM) provides a framework to help meet those challenges. The authors investigated the relationship between TQM and HR effectiveness in home health agencies.

Organizing for nursing home quality.

This article explores the relationship between job, work group, and organizational design and the quality of nursing home care. Contingency theorists contend that effective organizations develop structures that support the nature of their production processes and complement their environment. Within the same facility, units with differing care requirements should be structured differently to achieve quality outcomes.