Free Gift Research Articles

Painting the fence: Social norms as economic incentives to non-automotive travel behavior

Research exploring the behavioral economic dimensions that drive travel has shown that social and psychological forces often play a role equal to price and economic levers. Yet, more work is needed to evaluate how financial verses social market norms influence economic decisions with regard to transportation. For this study, roughly 500 participants were offered differing incentives in four identical trials. These randomly assigned incentives included various monetary amounts, a free gift, or a social nudge tapping into altruistic values (in this case, benefits to the environment). After tests for homogeneity, the results showed the social nudge had a high degree of effectiveness, when compared to both the financial incentives and gifts. Furthermore, the results indicated that mixing financial and social norms caused both to be less effective. These findings suggest that fiscal incentive programs used to influence travel decisions may be lacking. In fact, this research suggests a new focus on behavioral economics in travel programs, and more emphasis on social norms and values as tools to facilitate changes in travel behaviors and nudge individuals to more healthy and climate-sensitive forms of travel.

A review on diversity, conservation and nutrition of wild edible fruits

The United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration of September 2009 to improve the global living conditions through reducing poverty and hunger. However, considerable numbers of people are still living in utter penury and are deprived of a dignified living. In such tough circumstances nature’s free gift in the form of wild edible foods are benefiting the vulnerable and dependent communities. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are the species those are neither cultivated nor domesticated however are available in their wild natural habitat and used as sources of these plants have played a significant role in the development and civilization of human history throughout the ages and globe. These wild edible plants have played a significant role in supplying food and nutritional requirements of poor communities in many rural parts of the world. These wild edibles can be popularized only when they are comparedfor their nutritional and health benefits with major or widely used cultivated plants. The social, cultural, religious, and belief system of the rural communities are incomplete without these wild edible plants. Domestication of these wild edible plants can increase their use and their conservation as well. The present review paper has described the wild edible plants in context of their diversity, traditional knowledge, conservation practices and nutritional composition from the available secondary literature. Authors feel there is still scope to incorporate more contextual variables for explaining more variations embedded with local people’s perception on values and usage of these wild edible fruits.

온라인 쇼핑몰에서 보상의 의미와 감동 효과 : 손편지와 사은품

온라인 쇼핑몰에서 보상의 의미와 감동 효과 : 손편지와 사은품

The Use of χάρις in John 1:14, 16–17: A Key to the Johannine Narrative

Interpretation of the Johannine Prologue (John 1:1–18) has long been an area of dispute. One of the unresolved matters is the relationship between the Prologue and the rest of the Gospel. This study of the use of χάρις in John 1:14, 16–17, the only place where the expression appears in John’s Gospel, argues that it should not be translated as ‘grace’, but as ‘a free gift’, and that the author does not communicate a view that the revelation of Jesus Christ replaces the Law. In that light, the bulk of the Johannine narrative tells how God’s gift of Jesus Christ perfects God’s gift of the Law.

안경원 선택속성과 정보원천에 관한 연구

목적: 소비자들이 안경원을 어떻게 선택하는지에 관한 안경원 선택속성에 관한 중요도 순서와 안경원을 어떤 경로로 선택하게 되는지를 알 수 있는 정보원천에 관한 중요도의 순서를 매겨 안경원 경영에 도움이 되는 연구를 하고자 한다. 방법: 2015년 3월 10일부터 3월 31일 사이에 서울과 경기북부지역의 안경원을 방문한 고객을 대상으로 조사를 실시하였다. 분석방법은 기술통계를 사용하였으며 SPSS v.10.0 통계 패키지 프로그램을 이용하여 분석하였다. 결과: 안경원 선택속성 중요도 상위 5개는 "직원의 친절과 예의", "안경원의 청결", "고객 불만에 직원의 신속한 해결", "직원의 시력검사 및 조제가공실력", "고객 불만과 요구 처리"로 나타났다. 안경원 선택속성 중요도 하위 5개는 "사은품제공", "안경원의 규모나 크기", "개점시간 및 폐점시간", "편리한 주차시설", "호감 있는 직원 용모"인 것으로 나타났다. 안경원 정보원천 중요도 상위 2가지는 "과거의 이용경험", "가족, 친구, 친척 등의 추천으로"인 것으로 나타났다. 안경원 정보원천 중요도 하위 2가지는 "광고 등을 보고"와 "안경원의 특별한 외장을 보고"로 나타났다. 결론: 안경원 경영에서 중요한 점은 광고, 외관, 사은품과 같은 외적인 면보다는 안경사의 실력, 진심어린 고객응대, 과거의 이용경험 등의 내적역량인 것으로 나타났다. Purpose: This study is to help assist in the management of optical shops by using the importance sequence of optical shop selection attributes, which is related to the consumer's selection method of consumer, and by using the importance sequence of optical shop information sources which is related to a route for optical shop selection. Methods: Customer surveys were conducted from March 10 to March 31, 2015 targeting customers who have visited an optical shop in Seoul and Northern Gyeonggi-do regions. The analys method was descriptive statistics and data were analyzed by utilizing SPSS v.10.0 statistical package program. Results: The highest ranking five attributes among the importance of optical shop selection are "friendliness and politeness of staff", "cleanliness of an optical shop", "quick resolution of customer's complaints by staff", "eyes examination and glasses dispensing skill of staff", "customer's complaints and claims handling". The lowest ranking five attributes among the importance of optical shop selection are "provide free gifts", "scale or size of an optical shop", "opening time and closing time", "convenient parking facilities", "favorable countenance of staff". The two highestr ranking criteria among the importance of optical shop information sources are "previous utilization experience", "recommendation by a relative, a friend and a family etc". The two lowest ranking criteria among the importance of optical shop information sources are "advertisement" and "spatial exterior view of optical shop". Conclusions: It is shown that the important thing in management of an optical shop is an inner caliber like ability of ophthalmic optician, interaction with customers, and previous utilization experience rather than external factors like advertisement, exterior view, and bonus gift.

Union's Free Gift Not Grounds for Setting Aside Election Victory

Union's Free Gift Not Grounds for Setting Aside Election Victory

Testing Social Norms as an Incentive to Active Transportation Behavior

Research exploring the behavioral dimensions that drive travel (Carrel, Ekambaram, Gaker, Sengupta, & Walker, 2012; Dugundji & Walker, 2005; Jariyasunant et al., 2015) has shown that social and psychological forces often play a role equal to price and economic levers (Ariely, 2008; Heyman & Ariely, 2004; Lin & Wang, 2014; Riggs, 2014, 2015; William Riggs & Kuo, 2015; Riggs & Kuo, 2014; Sherwin, Chatterjee, & Jain, 2014). Yet, more work is needed to evaluate how market vs. social nudges work together to influence active transportation decisions. For this study, roughly 500 participants were offered differing incentives in four identical trials. These randomly assigned incentives included various monetary amounts, a free gift, or a social nudge tapping into altruistic values (in this case, benefits to the environment). After tests for homogeneity, the results showed the social nudge had a high degree of effectiveness, when compared to both the financial incentives and gifts. Furthermore, the results indicated that mixing market and social norms caused both to be less effective. These findings suggest that fiscal incentive programs used to influence travel decisions may be lacking. In fact, this research suggests a focus on social norms and value provides alternative tools to facilitate greater changes in travel behaviors that nudge individuals to more healthy and climate-sensitive modes of travel.

Human Response to Degradation of Ecosystems

Abstract: Our ecosystem provides us with essential services, most of which come without a price tag and hence are assumed to be “free gifts of nature” available in plenty. Much of the neoclassical thought and analysis was based on this assumption until recently. The dynamic rise in population due to rapid industrialisation and urbanization has caused the realisation that ecosystem services are also limited. Environmental degradation is a common term used to describe the loss or impairment of ecosystem services. Migration is often a consequence of environmental degradation; when ecosystem services are impaired and survival comes at stake. But is the degradation of essential ecosystem services sufficient to motivate people to relocate? Through a review of literature on migration and environmental degradation, this paper strives to answer the above question along with exploring ways how monitoring the deterioration of the environment on time can spare human inhabitants of any ecosystem the pains of migration...

The effects of different recruitment and incentive strategies for body acceptance programs on college women

ABSTRACTThe objective of this study—getting individuals to participate in eating disorder prevention programs—is difficult yet crucial for dissemination efforts. Little research has investigated what incentive strategies can be particularly efficacious, and even less is published on their cost-effectiveness. The following study examined two types of email advertisements and six incentive strategies in an empirically supported body acceptance program disseminated at a large university. A total of 5,978 undergraduate women received email advertisements, of which 430 signed up to participate. An additional 588 who did not participate were assessed. Results suggest the most effective incentives were offering gift certificates for free manicure services and free personal fashion style training gift certificates from a student organization. Undergraduate women were least likely to attend due to lack of knowledge about the program, not having a friend to attend with them, or inconvenient times. Implications for future research are explored.

Free Drink or Free Mug? Managing Service Experience with Experiential vs. Material Complimentary Gifts

In the marketplace, complimentary gifts can take the form of experiential elements (e.g., a meal) or material items (e.g., tangible objects such as a mug). We identify these free gifts as a meaningful service design choice that helps service providers innovate service. Specifically, we examine the circumstances under which experiential or material gifts are preferred and generate greater consumer satisfaction, enhancing the overall service experience. Across three experiments, we demonstrate that consumers are generally happier with experiential offerings, and they prefer (and are more satisfied with) experiential offerings on ordinary consumption occasions; experiential elements are believed to further enrich otherwise mundane experiences. However, this experiential advantage disappears for consumers on meaningful and special occasions because of a strong desire to obtain a memory cue that will help them recall the experience. Indeed, the preference for a material item holds only when the gift has the quality to serve as a salient memory marker. This research provides insight for managers to take into account consumption occasions or types of consumers (e.g., special occasions, repeat customers) to effectively design service bundles with complimentary gifts and thus better manage overall service experience.

Linsey McGoey, No Such Thing As A Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and The Price of Philanthropy

Linsey McGoey, No Such Thing As A Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and The Price of Philanthropy

Book review: Linsey McGoey, No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy

Book review: Linsey McGoey, <i>No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy</i>

A Documentation of Some Traditional Aspects of Wood Consumption in Anaocha, Nigeria

The usefulness of wood to mankind varies from place to place, community to community, state to state, and nation to nation. Wood is a natural product, which is one of the components of biodiversity and a bio-product that serves numerous purposes to mankind. Such multifunctional purposes include those of sociopolitical, economic, religious, and cultural aspects of man. This article examines some traditional aspects of wood consumption in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria, with a view to ascertaining the uses to which the people put wood as a by-product of the trees around them. In-depth interview, on-the-site observation, and focused group discussion were used to elicit information from knowledgeable elders, artisans, and wood vendors in different towns that make up the local government area. This research brings to limelight aspects of wood consumption in Anaocha and lends credence to the belief that wood is still the major source of revenue and energy in rural areas, probably because it is a free gift of nature. The research findings show that modernization has not completely eroded the value of wood in the study area.

The Cross of Reality: Luther’s Theologia Crucis and Bonhoeffer’s Christology by H. Gaylon Barker (review)

Reviewed by: The Cross of Reality: Luther’s Theologia Crucis and Bonhoeffer’s Christology by H. Gaylon Barker Mark Mattes The Cross of Reality: Luther’s Theologia Crucis and Bonhoeffer’s Christology. By H. Gaylon Barker. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015. xii + 480 pp. This book follows in detail the development of Bonhoeffer’s theology from early to late and shows how at every turn it was shaped by two of Luther’s most important doctrines (1) the theology of the cross and (2) the communication of attributes between the divine and the human natures in Christ. For Barker, the two doctrines are fundamentally interrelated in that the content of the theology of the cross is none other than Christ; likewise, Christ is the way that God comes deep into the world and so experiences its disdain and rejection. Barker notes that Bonhoeffer was deeply indebted to Karl Barth’s theological reform which countered Protestant liberalism’s grounding of truth in human experience. But, in contrast to Barth, who attempted to re-appropriate a “theology of glory” based on the fact that Jesus is now risen and glorified, Bonhoeffer countered that the resurrection does not trump the crucifixion. Instead, precisely as resurrected, Jesus Christ as the “man for others” continues his earthly ministry and presence (8). For Barker, Jürgen Moltmann’s designation of Jesus’ cross as the “cross of reality” (13) is an interpretive key for establishing a contemporary relevance for the theology of the cross as mediated by Bonhoeffer: Jesus’ ministry does not leave or bypass the violence or messiness of this world but instead engages it on behalf of the needy and oppressed. Throughout, Barker establishes a rich interpretation of Bonhoeffer’s deeply Lutheran Christology offering numerous insights. Appropriating a theme from medieval music, Jesus Christ is the cantus firmus, or [End Page 78] leading voice, from whom Christians can and should take their bearings (118). This is because Jesus’ ministry was for the sake of humans, a “vicarious representative action” (155). Hence, those united with Christ through baptism and faith share in Jesus’ ministry on behalf of others as the mark of their identity and continuity with Jesus. After all, Christ and his cross cannot be separated (164), and this means that Christians in seeking to live like Jesus will experience opposition, humiliation, and even defeat, just as Jesus experienced them. In addition to Christological themes, Bonhoeffer develops Luther’s anthropology centered in the thought that the sinful human is constituted by a heart turned in on itself (72). Bonhoeffer strikingly states that humans so curved in on themselves when encountering Jesus as self-sacrificial must either “die” to their self-centeredness or “kill” Jesus (231). Echoing the theology of the cross, the world searches for glory in one way or another but Christ’s place is on the cross (283). Christians then are not to look for God in some beyond or eternity, but instead in the world, to which the church must then bear witness (289). The phrase frequently associated with Bonhoeffer, “cheap grace,” should, following Jonathan Sorum, not be seen as a critique of the generosity of the gospel but instead as an attack on “merciless legalism.” Grace is costly precisely because it is a free gift (306). Justification by faith alone through grace alone then is wholly defined Christologically (324). Likewise, Bonhoeffer’s claim that the modern world has become “religionless” is not to be understood to say that modern people live in a spiritual vacuum, devoid of God, but instead that they can be free of caricatures of God. This is a well-written book, of interest and accessible not only to scholars but also to pastors and interested laity. Mark Mattes Grand View University Des Moines, Iowa Copyright © 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.

No such thing as a free gift: the Gates Foundation and the price of philanthropy

Nearly half of the 75,000 private foundations in the United States were created in the past 10 years. About 5,000 more US philanthropic foundations are set up each year. The amount of money placed in philanthropic trusts helps to make the charitable sector one of the fastest growing industries in the global economy. Linsey McGoey looks at this new golden age of philanthropy, in particular, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and asks: is this money doing much good? Large charitable organizations are replacing government as the providers of social welfare while their businesses often support economic instability and compound global inequalities. The new generation of mega-donors see that there is good business in charity and ignore the division between good deeds and profits. Are we losing the idea of social justice in the face of market-based philanthropy?

Understanding the degree of awareness among medical professionals regarding the ethics of pharmaceutical marketing activities in context of revised medical council of India code of ethics

Background: Pharmaceutical marketing activities are regarded as ethically challenging by most medical professionals. This study was planned to understand the extent of the interaction of pharmaceutical companies with healthcare providers & to determine the level of awareness about the ‘Medical Council of India (MCI) Code of Ethics’. Methods: A questionnaire based survey was conducted among 100 consultants and residents. The questionnaire mainly dealt with ethical issues about accepting free gifts, medicines and other sponsorships from pharmaceutical representatives, interactions and expectations from representatives of pharmaceutical companies by doctors and ascertaining among them the level of awareness about the MCI’s code of ethics. Results: 59.4% residents and 58.8% consultants do not consider small gifts (stationery/books/drug samples) as ethically problematic. 88% residents and 85% consultants felt that offers should be limited. 72% of consultants were aware of the revised MCI code of ethics as compared to 28% of residents. Conclusions: Most physicians do maintain a code of ethics with regards to accepting gifts and they felt that inexpensive gifts do not influence clinical judgment. Consultants were of the view that amended MCI code of ethics would not affect their clinical practice significantly.

Justice, justification, and self-justification

In anticipation of 2017 commemorations of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, the time is ripe for a reconsideration of Reformation themes such as justification by faith. Because we are justified by God’s grace as a free gift received in faith, the 16th-century Reformers argued, no human works or merits are required for salvation. Yet, our human proclivity is to self-justify, to obtain justice on our own apart from divine grace. This article advocates Christian realism while exploring the dynamics of self-justification and its accompanying violence in everyday gossip and political rhetoric.

Stand-Alone Sale of a Free Gift: Is it Effective to Accentuate Promotion Value?

Offering a free gift when a purchase is made is one of the most pervasive marketing practices. We investigated whether making the product offered as a free gift also available for sale by itself (i.e., a stand-alone sale of the gift product) accentuated the customer's perception of the value of the promotion. Previous research on value anchoring and adjustment predicted that a stand-alone sale of a gift would increase the promotion value, whereas the opposite was predicted in the scarcity perception literature. We conducted 3 empirical studies with 330 undergraduate students in Korea, and the results supported the scarcity hypothesis: The availability of a stand-alone sale decreased the perceived scarcity of a free gift which, in turn, reduced the value of the promotional offer and discouraged our participants from joining the promotion program. Our findings suggest that the effectiveness of a free gift promotion is enhanced when the gift is not available as a stand-alone product.

Toward Epistemic Decolonial Turn in Missio-Formation in African Christianity

Abstract This article is framed with the World Council of Churches' (WCC) mission statement Together towards Life: and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes, which seems to be reviving academic interests in missio-formation as an interdisciplinary field study. The mission statement, which is framed in a postcolonial missional discourse, seems to show interest in how missio-formation as academic discipline can expose the intersectionality of questions of power, politics, and culture in Africa. The matters of agency, subjectivity, pedagogy, and rhetoric are perceived as central to the envisaged public missio-formation discourse. Hence, this article argues that the nature of the mission statement must also be comprehended as means for decolonizing missio-formation paradigm in Africa within a decolonial framework which gives critical attention to how missions have functioned as a colonialist mechanism for colonialifing African Christian minds and subjectivity. Introduction The World Council of Churches' (WCC) mission statement Together Towards Life: and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes (TTL), unanimously approved by the central committee as official position statement on mission on 5 September 2012 and officially launched at the 2013 WCC Busan assembly, represents a watershed in mapping the changing landscape in world Christianity. Rather than being conceived as a static force, mission theory is perceived as mutating and is subjected to ongoing changes and interpretations in different epochs and cultural contexts. TTL acknowledges that since the last WCC mission statement, Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation, was approved in 1982, the fast pace of social, economic, political, technological, and military changes over the past 30 years has resulted in Christianity experiencing a profound paradigm shift in the understanding of the church's missional identity, vocation, and witness in the world. TTL takes seriously the issue of marginality experienced as a central component in developing a theory of missio-formation. (1) It interrogates the misuse of power and use of the wrong kind of power in mission and in the church (2) and argues for a new missional order that empowers the powerless and challenges the powerful. The TTL missional model proposes mission as struggle and resistance in the quest for justice and inclusivity, healing and wholeness. (3) By doing so, TTL raises critical awareness of the devastating effects of the colonialist and imperialist legacies and the contemporary global technocratic forces on mission theory, seeing such awareness as indispensable for theorizing mission paradigms in today's world. It raises explicitly the issues of coloniality's matrix of power, as expressed in the following statement: [O]ur faithfulness to God and God's free gift of Life compels us to confront idolatrous assumptions, unjust systems, politics of domination and exploitation in our current world of economic order. (4) It advocates a united effort on a cooperative journey to articulate meaning as historically and socially constructed. This paper postulated that mission understanding and praxis have been produced and reproduced, written and rewritten within imperialist and colonialist ideological and material legacies. Therefore, coloniality is proposed as the appropriate lens through which to theorize modern missio-formation with its use of hierarchical dichotomies and categorical logic. In this logic, African thought--relations, values, ecological, economic, and spiritual practices--was reduced, ridiculed, and dismissed to pre-modern margins of irrelevance. According to Alison Hodge, who engaged in research work on missionary discourse in Africa, Eurocentric thought relegated Africans to the bottom rung on a metamorphic ladder of human development. (5) Chammah Kaunda has summarized three different standpoints on the aim of missionary work in Africa. (6) The first was assimilation, which meant to transform African people and their culture into sub-Europeans. …

Religious Donations, Ritual Offerings, and Humanitarian Aid: Fields of Practice According to Forms of Giving in Burma

AbstractIn this paper, the religious donation–meaning oriented interactions that occur between a lay donor and his or her monastic recipient or between laypeople and religious institutions as a whole–is first examined in the Burmese Buddhist context, in regard to the Maussian theory of the gift. The formal analysis of ‘serving rice’ to monks during their daily alms tour, the main form of religious donation, demonstrates that it is in keeping with the definition of a free gift rather than involving reciprocity, although it is supposed to be rewarded by merit through an impersonal process. Then, moving from a formal analysis of the ethnography of religious donation (ahlu) to the contextual analysis of the differentiated uses of various forms of giving in contemporary Burma, the discussion aims at highlighting differences with practices of ‘ritual offering’ (kadaw bwe) and ‘humanitarian aid’(ke hse yay) showing how these different forms of interaction shape contrasted fields of practice. The transaction occurring in religious donations then emerges as setting into motion a crucial social process, the enactment and reproduction of the difference in status between monastics and laypeople that is one of the main social processes contributing to the differentiation of a Buddhist‐defined ‘religious field’.