Pre-existing Expectations Research Articles

The Effect of Individualism and Collectivism on Customer Satisfaction in Retail Sector: Asian versus Western Culture

Customer satisfaction is defined as the customer's attitude towards the perceived service performance, which results from the differences in pre-existing expectations and the actual service performance. There are many factors that can lead to customer satisfaction, but instead of looking into all factors, it is interesting to look at cultural differences since the study focuses on the Malaysian setting, which is known for the multicultural environment. More interestingly, businesses in Malaysia not only involve local customers, but as well as customers from Asian and Western regions. The aims of this study are to determine the relationship between individualism and collectivism towards customer service satisfaction, specifically in the retail sector which involves multinational brands as well as multicultural customers. The use of Geert Hofstede Dimension theory in this study is because it is one of the most important theory in cultural differences studies and has generated a large body of research. A quantitative method has been used and the study has been conducted on 103 respondents, 51.5 % are from Asian origin and 48.5% are of Western origin. Although both individualism and collectivism have a significant impact on customer service satisfaction in the retail sector, it is proven in this study that collectivism has more to do in determining the satisfaction level as a whole. It is recommended that further studies should be done outside of Klang Valley. Furthermore, future research should seek to expand the pool of potential explanatory variables such as how cultural differences factor can help influence customer satisfaction.

‘That hour served me better than any hour I have ever had before’: Service users’ experiences of CBTp in first episode psychosis

Objectives:Despite an emerging number of studies investigating service users’ experiences of receiving cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp), no studies to date have focused on individuals with first episode psychosis (FEP). Available research in FEP indicates that young people may delay seeking professional help due to having negative expectations of therapy and upholding unhelpful attitudes toward such treatment, which delays uptake to early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services in the NHS. The present study attempts to address the apparent gap in existing knowledge and explores expectations and experiences of receiving CBTp among EIP clients with FEP.Method:Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with nine participants with FEP who had received CBTp in a London-based EIP. Researchers had the flexibility to focus on the identified areas of service user experience and explored their reflections on the received therapy. Questions related to prior expectations and the actual experience of participating in such therapeutic treatment.Results:Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Four major themes emerged, including: service user’s prior expectations; therapeutic alliance; challenges of CBTp; and application of CBTp to achieve change.Conclusions:Although some negative assumptions preceded the commencement of therapy, optimistic expectations were also voiced. Overall, participants reported largely positive experiences of receiving CBTp in relation to both the process of treatment and qualities demonstrated by their therapists, despite experiencing some challenges related to achieving change. Central importance of functional therapeutic alliance in CBTp was indicated, based on which major therapeutic gains were achieved, even in spite of, at times, pre-existing worrisome expectations.

Pain management in labour and childbirth: Going back to basics

As rates of anxiety, tocophobia and post-traumatic stress syndrome increase, there is a need for health professionals to reflect, review and rethink how women could be better prepared for labour and birth. Women need to fully understand the choices available and to have the support to enable them to deal with the pain and challenges of labour. All pregnant women should be helped to understand the physiology of labour and birth so that they are aware of what is happening to their bodies and what they and their midwife might do or avoid to keep birth normal. Information must incorporate discussions on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of pain relief, which must be current, contemporary and evidence-based to enhance the woman's ability to make informed choices about her intrapartum care. How the woman copes with this process depends on not only the confidence she has in her own body but also on the support of her caregivers. The care setting, as well as any pre-existing fears, previous experiences and expectations all heavily influence a woman's positive or negative birth experience.

The Real Estate Market in the Aftermath of September 11

This study examines the reaction of the financial markets to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and how their behavior compared to the subsequent resolution in the corresponding real asset markets. This event provides an ideal setting to evaluate the accuracy of the market's reaction to external shocks since, unlike almost all studies of economic events, this tragedy was certainly unanticipated and thus absent from pre-existing market expectations, its overall impact was unclear, and the subsequent week of market closure gave market participants sufficient time to sort out the complex impact of the event on market prices. Our analysis of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with New York office exposure outside of the downtown area shows that, during the period of market closure and the first trading day, the equity market did not accurately anticipate how this event would impact office REITs. Specifically, we find that REITs with significant exposure to the New York market showed significant gains relative to REITs without New York exposure (an average difference of 4.057% of market value from the close on September 10 to the opening on September 17), and that this abnormal return disappeared only in November 2001. However, an examination of the underlying real asset market's performance over the first few months after September 11 shows that New York properties significantly under-performed similar office properties in the U.S. This evidence provides little support for the notion that financial markets can rapidly and correctly price significant shocks to the underlying economy.

Examining narratives: Conversations between community mentors and pre-service teachers

State policy and teacher evaluation rubrics increasingly call for attention to family and community engagement. Yet teachers, schools, and families continue to face a number of obstacles preventing collaboration on all sides. Research on culturally responsive teaching, funds of knowledge, and community teaching have identified a number of concrete principles and practices for educators to partner with families and communities. However, teacher education programs continue to struggle in crafting authentic experiences for pre-service teachers to partner with families and communities. This study examines regionallybased, small group discussions– which, were part of a larger programmatic set of experiences–between preservice teachers and partnering community mentors in one teacher education program. Using narrative analysis, the authors found that conversations revealed layered engagement mediated by levels of trust and pre-existing expectations.

A Qualitative Study of Symptom Experiences of Women With Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Most studies show that women with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) delay seeking care longer than men do. Contributing factors include women being more likely to experience diverse symptoms, to experience symptoms that do not match preexisting symptom expectations, to interpret symptoms as noncardiac, and to minimize symptoms until they become incapacitating. The aim of the study is to identify factors influencing women's ability to recognize and accurately interpret symptoms of suspected ACS. This qualitative study used in-depth interviews with 18 women diagnosed with ACS to determine how they recognized, interpreted, and acted on symptoms. An interview guide developed from the author's initial research was used to provide structure for the process. All of the women went through a process of recognizing and interpreting their symptoms. Eight women had symptoms arise abruptly. Most of these women recognized a change immediately, "knew" to go for treatment, and did so quickly. Three women had vague symptoms that started slowly, converting unexpectedly to intense symptoms prompting them to seek care urgently. The remaining 7 women had evolving symptoms, were more likely to interpret symptoms as unrelated to their heart, and avoided disclosing symptoms to others. Despite recognizing that the situation may be serious, women with evolving symptoms adopted a wait-and-see approach. Women with less severe, intermittent, or evolving symptoms are at increased risk for delayed presentation, diagnosis, and treatment for ACS. These women should be targeted for educational and behavioral interventions.

Preservice Teachers’ Identity Development during the Teaching Internship

This article reports the analysis of two preservice teachers’ narratives to highlight the process of teacher identity development during their teaching internship. The analysis showed that their teacher identities had been shaped before they entered the teacher education program where it continued to be shaped by educational experts. In that way, they formed expectations or imaginations of their professional roles and responsibilities prior to the teaching internships. When entering the teaching internships, these pre-existing expectations or imaginations were challenged by the reality they faced. Their engagement with the internship, resilience and negotiations of professional practices were found to be significant for the development of their teacher identities. The article discusses some important implications for teacher education programs.

Reclaiming the everyday: the situational dynamics of the 2011 London Riots

This paper examines the situational dynamics of the 2011 London Riots. The empirical contribution is to challenge the dominant explanation of the riots as an outbreak of ‘criminal opportunism’. I use the Metropolitan Police record of all riot-related crimes in London to test several hypotheses and show that this ‘criminal opportunism’ theory cannot account for the riots’ spatial patterning. This opens space for alternative explanatory mechanisms. I then use video footage and testimonies of events on the ground to examine the interactions which made up the London Riots. These suggest that the riots were, in part, a way for people to stake a claim to the public spaces in which they lived, to reclaim the everyday. Theoretically, this builds on Randall Collins’s ‘micro-situational’ approach to violence but extends it by embedding historical and structural factors into that micro-perspective. Specifically, the emotional dynamics of these riot interactions cannot be understood without acknowledging participants’ pre-existing expectations of the police and of the everyday places of the riot.

Perceptions of Athletes in Disabled and Non-Disabled Sport Contexts: A Descriptive Qualitative Research Study

The term supercrip suggests extraordinary feats but is sometimes applied to any proficiency demonstrated by an athlete with a disability. This use of the term potentially undermines spectator appreciation for achievements of the upper echelon of disability sports participants. Prior disability sport researchers have suggested that a comparison of individuals’ perceptions of athletic heroes with and without disabilities has potential to help disability sport marketers counter the supercrip stereotype. The purpose of this research was to explore differences in perceptions by comparing participant descriptions of role models with and without disabilities. Research participants, who consisted of undergraduate students at a large southwestern university, viewed video recorded scenarios of athletes with and without disabilities and participated in focus group interviews. Our findings supported those of prior researchers who suggested that participants were most likely to describe relatable circumstances as inspiring. Our participants also critiqued the depth of the stories presented in the scenarios based on their prior exposure to disability narratives. Disability sport marketers might benefit from emphasizing multiple elements of athletes’ backgrounds to appeal to potential consumers. Marketers should also consider that consumers might have developed preexisting expectations about style of presentation of athlete interest stories.

Frail older adults’ perceptions of an in-hospital structured exercise intervention

BackgroundExercise interventions need to be assessed qualitatively to establish how people participate in and perceive the intervention and how interventions should be delivered for maximal effect. ObjectivesTo explore how frail older inpatients perceived the effects of a pilot augmented prescribed exercise programme (APEP). DesignAn interpretive phenomenological design using open-ended semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. SettingAn acute teaching hospital. ParticipantsThirteen of the frail older adults who participated in the APEP. ResultsThe participants’ perceived relationship with the interventionist was highly influential, affecting participation rates, perceived value of the APEP, and outcome expectations. Pre-existing positive outcome expectations increased the likelihood of fully engaging in the programme and valuing the outcomes. Barriers to the intervention included negative or no outcome expectations and fatalism. Recent exercise history affected their views of the APEP. Perceived positive outcomes included increased intention to exercise postdischarge, improved self-efficacy and perceived improvements in physical status. ConclusionExercise interventions targeting frail older adults in the acute setting may benefit from taking a multifaceted approach to implementation. Education tailored to the participants, and setting restorative goals, may improve outcome expectations and future intention to exercise. The relationship between the participants and those implementing an intervention appears critical to their participation and whether they value the programme.

Factors influencing decision-making around family presence during resuscitation: a grounded theory study.

The aim of this study was to examine factors impacting family presence during resuscitation practices in the acute care setting. Family presence during resuscitation was introduced in the 1980s, so family members/significant others could be with their loved ones during life-threatening events. Evidence demonstrates important benefits; yet despite growing support from the public and endorsement from professional groups, family presence is practiced inconsistently and rationales for poor uptake are unclear. Constructivist grounded theory design. Twenty-five health professionals, family members and patients informed the study. In-depth interviews were undertaken between October 2013-November 2014 to interpret and explain their meanings and actions when deciding whether to practice or participate in FPDR. The Social Construction of Conditional Permission explains the social processes at work when deciding to adopt or reject family presence during resuscitation. These processes included claiming ownership, prioritizing preferences and rights, assessing suitability, setting boundaries and protecting others/self. In the absence of formal policies, decision-making was influenced primarily by peoples' values, preferences and pre-existing expectations around societal roles and associated status between health professionals and consumers. As a result, practices were sporadic, inconsistent and often paternalistic rather than collaborative. An increased awareness of the important benefits of family presence and the implementation of clinical protocols are recommended as an important starting point to address current variations and inconsistencies in practice. These measures would ensure future practice is guided by evidence and standards for health consumer safety and welfare rather than personal values and preferences of the individuals 'in charge' of permissions.

From computer-assisted to data-driven: Journalism and Big Data

Despite claims of continuity, contemporary data journalism is quite different from the earlier tradition of computer-assisted reporting. Although it echoes earlier claims about being scientific and democratic, these qualities are understood as resulting from better data access rather than as being something achieved by the journalist. In the context of Big Data in particular, human subjectivity tends to be downgraded in importance, even understood as getting in the way if it means hubristically theorising about causation rather than working with correlation and allowing the data to speak. Increasing ‘datafication’ is not what is driving changes in the profession, however. Rather, the impact of Big Data tends to be understood in ways that are consonant with pre-existing expectations, which are shaped by the broader contemporary post-humanist political context. The same is true in academic analysis, where actor–network theory seems to be emerging as the dominant paradigm for understanding data journalism, but in largely uncritical ways.

The color of emotion: A metric for implicit color associations

Color cues impact the chemosensory perception of foods and beverages. Evidence suggests that color exerts these effects through a link with emotion. In this study, color associations to 20 emotion terms were obtained by having 194 participants use a touch-screen display to select a matching color. The resulting color matches were displayed visually and their coordinates in the L∗a∗b∗ system were analyzed statistically. Matching colors were found to differ as a function of emotion, with participants’ age and sex somewhat moderating color matches. Color matches were also obtained to nine beverage-related sensory scenarios. The results indicate that consumers have pre-existing expectations regarding the appropriate color for specific flavors and types of drinks. Quantitative assessment of color-emotion associations may help clarify the cross-modal effects of color on taste and smell.

First encounters with instructors: the experiences and perceptions of nursing students in Iran.

The first encounter between an instructor and his/her student influences the development of their mutual relationship. This phenomenon has received little attention in the literature within the context of nursing education. This study explores and describes qualitatively the subjective experience and perceptions of nursing students related to their first encounter with instructors in both classroom and clinical settings. A purposeful sampling method was utilized to select 15 nursing students from a nursing school in Iran to participate in semistructured interviews. Data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach. Data analysis identified three main themes: (a) preexisting expectations, with the four subthemes of socially shared expectations, personal expectations, profession-related expectations, and reputation-directed expectations; (b) student's judgment, with the three subthemes of assessing the instructor, assessing criteria, and good or bad beginning; and (c) future interactions, with the two subthemes of constructive decisions and destructive decisions. The results show that the initial student-instructor encounter is a process in which students rely heavily on preexisting expectations to assess and judge the initial interaction with their instructor. The findings of this study may help nursing instructors in various national and cultural settings increase their awareness of the factors that influence their first encounters with students. Greater awareness may help positively shape student perspectives of the instructor's role and encourage students to collaborate with the instructor in the teaching and learning process in order to create a better outcome for both.

“Meaning” in Social Media

Researchers of social media struggle to stay up to speed: empirical findings are most often very context- and time-specific and quickly become outdated because the object of study changes. By extension, previously solid and well-tested methods and tools may be rendered obsolete, for instance, as social media services change their application programming interfaces (APIs). The stabilizing component in social media research is arguably good theory—about the communicative patterns and bit trails of use, the actions that social media channel and mobilize, the interplay between social and other media, and, of course, the implications of social media for sociality, privacy, and society at large. In this essay, the concept and study of meaning is proposed as a key concern for social media research. “Meaning” highlights the generative process by which users negotiate the communicative potentials and constraints of a text or a medium vis-a-vis the individuals’ preexisting mental models, expectations, and intentions in context.

Do confessions taint perceptions of handwriting evidence? An empirical test of the forensic confirmation bias.

Citing classic psychological research and a smattering of recent studies, Kassin, Dror, and Kukucka (2013) proposed the operation of a forensic confirmation bias, whereby preexisting expectations guide the evaluation of forensic evidence in a self-verifying manner. In a series of studies, we tested the hypothesis that knowing that a defendant had confessed would taint people's evaluations of handwriting evidence relative to those not so informed. In Study 1, participants who read a case summary in which the defendant had previously confessed were more likely to erroneously conclude that handwriting samples from the defendant and perpetrator were authored by the same person, and were more likely to judge the defendant guilty, compared with those in a no-confession control group. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings using a within-subjects design in which participants rated the same samples both before and after reading a case summary. These findings underscore recent critiques of the forensic sciences as subject to bias, and suggest the value of insulating forensic examiners from contextual information.

Parenting Styles and Peer-Pressure as Predictors of Substance Abuse among University Students

The study investigated the prevalence of substance abuse and its prediction by parenting styles and peer pressure among university students. Participants in this cross-sectional survey consisted of four hundred and fifty two randomly selected undergraduates of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye. The sample consisted of 221 (48.9%) males and 231 (51.1) females. Participants’ age ranges were as follow: 126 (27.9%) were aged between 18 and than 20 years, 312 (69.0%) were aged between 20 and 25 years while 14 (3.1%) were aged between 25 and above. Students who were younger than 18 years were excluded from participating in the study. Results indicated that about 47% of all respondents reported current use while 58% reported lifetime use of one or more psychoactive substances. Prevalence rates of use of all categories of drugs by respondents are presented in Table 1. Life time prevalence rate was highest for alcohol (43.14%), followed by tobacco (37.61%), stimulants (22.57%), cannabis (18.14%), sedatives (17.92%) and heroin (12.17%). parenting styles (permissive parenting, authoritarian parenting and authoritative parenting), peer pressure and sex jointly predicted substance abuse among students (R = .48; F = 9.16; p<.01) by accounting for 23% of the variances in substance abuse. The study highlighted the important roles of parenting styles (especially authoritative parenting), peer pressure, age and gender in understanding students’ substance abuse problem. The study concluded that these variables should be factored into intervention programmes aimed at stemming the tides of substance abuse among university students. It is also important for relevant interventions to commence before students enter the university since many young people come to the university or college with pre-existing perceptions and expectations concerning substance use, and often start university with already established habits and orientations

Preferences, predictions and patient enablement: a preliminary study

BackgroundThe widely used patient enablement instrument (PEI) is sometimes contrasted against measures of patient satisfaction as being a more objective measure of consultation quality, in that it is less likely to be positively influenced by fulfilling pre-existing expectations for specific consultation outcomes (such as prescriptions or referrals). However the relationship between expectation and enablement is underexplored, as is the relationship between ‘expectation’ understood as a patient preference for outcome, and patient prediction of outcome. The aims of the study are to 1) assess the feasibility of measuring the relationship between expectation fulfilment and patient enablement, and 2) measure the difference (if any) between expectation understood as preference, and expectation understood as prediction.MethodsA questionnaire study was carried out on 67 patients attending three General Practices in the Australian Capital Territory. Patient preferences and predictions for a range of possible outcomes were recorded prior to the consultation. PEI and the actual outcomes of the consultation were recorded at the conclusion of the consultation. Data analysis compared expectation fulfilment as concordance between the preferred, predicted, and actual outcomes, with the PEI as a dependant variable.ResultsNo statistically significant relationship was found between either preference-outcome concordance and PEI, or prediction-outcome concordance. Statistically insignificant trends in both cases ran counter to expectations; i.e. with PEI (weakly) positively correlated with greater discordance. The degree of concordance between preferred outcomes and predicted outcomes was less than the concordance between either preferred outcomes and actual outcomes, or predicted outcomes and actual outcomes.ConclusionsThe relationship between expectation fulfilment and enablement remains uncertain, whether expectation is measured as stated preferences for specific outcomes, or the predictions made regarding receiving such outcomes. However the lack of agreement between these two senses of ‘patient expectation’ suggests that explicitly demarcating these concepts during study design is strongly advisable.

Antenarrative and Transnational Labour Rights Activism: Making Sense of Complexity and Ambiguity in the Interaction between Global Social Movements and Global Corporations

This paper draws on antenarrative research and writing techniques to analyse the long-running transnational campaign seeking to improve respect for human rights in the supply chains of Nike and other major sportswear companies. The antenarrative approach challenges scholars to look beyond pre-existing expectations, both in terms of which actors and processes are likely to be most influential and in terms of what is motivating participation in those processes which are significant. In this paper we construct antenarrative accounts of two aspects of the Nike campaign and counterpoint each of our antenarratives with an established scholarly account based on more traditional narrative approaches. We conclude antenarrative analysis can provide useful insights into interaction between global activist networks and global corporations, particularly by drawing attention to the generative possibilities of the complex combination of ordered and disordered processes which often characterise that interaction.

An Exploration of Diagnosis Threat and Group Identification Following Concussion Injury

Cognitive performance can be impacted by many non-neurological factors, including preexisting expectations. The phenomenon of stereotype threat, or reduced cognitive performance due to preexisting beliefs, can apply to individuals following neurological injury (i.e., ‘‘diagnosis threat’’). We examined the effect of diagnosis threat on cognitive performance and symptom reporting following concussions while accounting for group identification (i.e., extent to which one’s identity is tied to being concussed). We also examined gender stereotype threat (i.e., women and math ability) to understand how these two related threat effects compare. Participants with a history of concussion were randomly assigned to one of three instructional sets emphasizing concussion history or gender, or neutral instructions. Individuals without a history of concussion served as a comparison group. Results revealed an effect of diagnosis threat on cognitive performance after group identification was taken into account, but only in male participants. In contrast, an underlying gender stereotype threat was observed in females across conditions, which was counteracted in the gender stereotype condition (i.e., stereotype reactance effect) due to the type of threat cues used. Also, controls exhibited greater symptom reporting than individuals with a concussion. Our findings highlight the importance of considering non-neurological factors impacting cognitive performance.