Utilitarian Features Research Articles

Why do users speak more positively about Mac OS X but are more loyal to Windows 7?

Users seek a more complete experience with software products, an experience that not only achieves well-defined goals, but also involves the senses and generates affective response. There is therefore a need to develop product characteristics that provide both instrumental and hedonic value to users of even utilitarian software products. But software product development organizations will be motivated to provide these features only if enhances business outcomes such as User Loyalty (UL) and positive Word-of-Mouth (WOM). Keeping this context in view, this study investigates how utilitarian product characteristics, as measured by perceived usefulness, and hedonic product characteristics, that generate perceived enjoyment and playfulness, impact UL and WOM. The results of the study show that hedonic and utilitarian product characteristics have distinctive impacts on UL and WOM with hedonic characteristics positively and significantly impacting WOM while utilitarian characteristics positively and significantly impacting UL. The reasons for this rather unexpected findings are discussed.

‘Utilitarian’ judgments in sacrificial moral dilemmas do not reflect impartial concern for the greater good

A growing body of research has focused on so-called ‘utilitarian’ judgments in moral dilemmas in which participants have to choose whether to sacrifice one person in order to save the lives of a greater number. However, the relation between such ‘utilitarian’ judgments and genuine utilitarian impartial concern for the greater good remains unclear. Across four studies, we investigated the relationship between ‘utilitarian’ judgment in such sacrificial dilemmas and a range of traits, attitudes, judgments and behaviors that either reflect or reject an impartial concern for the greater good of all. In Study 1, we found that rates of ‘utilitarian’ judgment were associated with a broadly immoral outlook concerning clear ethical transgressions in a business context, as well as with sub-clinical psychopathy. In Study 2, we found that ‘utilitarian’ judgment was associated with greater endorsement of rational egoism, less donation of money to a charity, and less identification with the whole of humanity, a core feature of classical utilitarianism. In Studies 3 and 4, we found no association between ‘utilitarian’ judgments in sacrificial dilemmas and characteristic utilitarian judgments relating to assistance to distant people in need, self-sacrifice and impartiality, even when the utilitarian justification for these judgments was made explicit and unequivocal. This lack of association remained even when we controlled for the antisocial element in ‘utilitarian’ judgment. Taken together, these results suggest that there is very little relation between sacrificial judgments in the hypothetical dilemmas that dominate current research, and a genuine utilitarian approach to ethics.

The effect of website features in online relationship marketing: A case of online hotel booking

The primary objective of this research is to develop a theory-based model of utilitarian and hedonic website features, customer commitment, trust, and e-loyalty in an online hotel booking context. Structural Equation Modeling was deployed to test research hypotheses. Findings highlight the importance of creating loyalty by focusing on both hedonic and utilitarian features. Affective commitment is more influenced by hedonic features whereas calculative commitment is driven by utilitarian ones. Both commitment dimensions sway customers’ trust towards the online vendor and trust is an important antecedent of e-loyalty. Findings confirm that web design features are important for online relationship marketing. Both commitment dimensions were found to be precursors of trust whereas affective commitment is the precursor of e-loyalty.

Exploring the UK high street retail experience: is the service encounter still valued?

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between service quality, the service encounter and the retail experience within a changing UK retail environment.Design/methodology/approach– Data were gathered from 40 customers and 20 staff of an established UK health and beauty retailer with a long-standing reputation for personal customer service. A qualitative analysis was applied using both a service quality and a customer value template.Findings– Customers focused more on the utilitarian features of the service experience and less on “extraordinary” aspects, but service staff still perceived that the customer encounter remained a key requisite for successful service delivery.Research limitations/implications– Recent environmental developments – involving customers, markets and retail platform structure – are challenging traditional service expectations.Practical implications– Retailers may need to reassess the role of the service encounter as part of their on-going value proposition.Originality/value– Limited research to date on the perception of shoppers to the service encounter in a changing retail environment and to the evolving notions of effort and convenience.

FROM LEAN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TO LEAN INNOVATION: SEARCHING FOR A MORE VALID APPROACH FOR PROMOTING UTILITARIAN AND EMOTIONAL VALUE

This paper considers the role of lean product development (LPD) as part of a company's overall innovation strategy. Our discussion contends that the value-concept in LPD is too strongly tied to product features, and that this may lead to: (i) overemphasis on utilitarian value, (ii) preference for reliability over validity, and (iii) a defensive approach to market-trends. These factors can compromise the philosophy's ability to maximize customer value, and represent a challenge in making LPD fit beyond incremental innovation in the technological domain. Lean innovation (LI) is therefore introduced as an extension of LPD, building on a value concept that embraces emotional as well as utilitarian characteristics. It is suggested that lean principles should not be limited to product development, but should concern all aspects of a company's innovation efforts relevant to offering a pleasurable customer experience.

An attenuated philosophical gentleman.

Dr. Joseph Black had at one time, a house near us to the west. He was a striking and beautiful person; tall, very thin, and cadaverously pale; his hair carefully powdered, though there was little of it except what was collected in a long thin queue; his eyes dark, clear and large, like deep pools of pure water. He wore black speckless clothes, silk stockings, silver buckles, and either a slim green umbrella, or a genteel brown cane. The general frame and air were feeble and slender. The wildest boy respected Black. No lad could be irreverent toward a man so pale, so gentle, so elegant and so illustrious. So he glided, like a spirit, through our rather mischievous sportiveness, unharmed. He died seated, with a bowl of milk upon his knee, of which his ceasing to be did not spill a drop; a departure which it seemed, after the event, might have been foretold of this attenuated philosophical gentleman.

Output of continuous directed selection aimed at short stem development in Winter Rye (Secale cereale L.)

The article provides progress report on the barley of F3к-10029/Saratovske 4 height decreasing throughout 1974 to 2012 by way of selecting plants of the shortest stem. 38 years of selecting the shortest stem genotypes cut down plant height by 5,7 times at the background of dominant Hl gene expression. Average plant height during 38 breeding cycles was descending by 2,69 cm, but this was not an even trend. New creative donor for ultimate short stem characteristic, Gnome 3, has been developed, with Hl-3Hl-3alleles designation. Relative impact on the efficacy of minus-selection by the plant height of the selection differential (38,00%) and inheritance coefficient in its narrow sense (14,56%) is established. Efficiency of the selection is realized with the decrease of winter rye height plants by 72,08% as expected by the relative breeding forecast. Analyzes is completed for 11 genetic and statistical clusters of average utilitarian characteristics of Gnome 3 ultra short stem rye over the period from 1974 to 2012.

Mercantilização de órgãos humanos para transplantes intervivos sob a ótica da bioética social

Buying and selling human organs for transplants from living donors has been discussed worldwide in the bioethical debate and it is becoming a public health problem. This essay discusses, in light of the Social Bioethics, arguments used to justify such practices, which are related to the common good, moral plurality, autonomy and individual freedom. Such justificatory aspects assume liberal and utilitarian characteristics. They present the possibility of double standard, do not consider social vulnerability, and harm dignity and human rights by evidencing an apology to the market laws. Thus, the justifications for buying and selling human organs for transplantations intervivos eventually turn the body, or part of it, into a commodity.

De protagonista a coadjuvante: o ônus das virtudes de Narizinho

A partir da análise de algumas das obras infantis de Monteiro Lobato, este artigo propõe uma reflexão sobre a mudança de status da personagem Narizinho na dinâmica de funcionamento do universo lobatiano. São focalizados aqui aspectos de sua trajetória de heroína dos textos reunidos em Reinações de Narizinho e sua transformação em coadjuvante nas aventuras e cenários posteriores, a partir da hipótese de que as concepções de infância, de gênero, bem como as demandas sociais e seus efeitos no mercado editorial da época teriam influenciado o autor na construção e desenvolvimento da personagem. A personagem Narizinho é a mais próxima dos adultos do Sítio e também a que mais legitima suas normas e valores, ao evocá-los constantemente e transgredi-los com moderação. A intensidade de sua participação em várias histórias e sua ausência em algumas ocorrem em oposição principalmente à atuação de Emília, personagem que se singulariza e agiganta-se ao longo da obra. Nesse contexto, Narizinho e suas virtudes parecem resquícios de uma tradição utilitarista de literatura para crianças, de caráter basicamente pedagógico, tendência esta que, no Brasil, Monteiro Lobato foi o primeiro a superar.

Increasingly emotional design for growingly pragmatic users? A report from Finland

Researchers and practitioners in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) have for a while been embracing the concepts of user and consumer experience as well as emotions in design, encouraging the industry to emphasise hedonic and symbolic qualities of products and services, over and beyond their utilitarian characteristics. However, the idea that mobile phone users, for instance, seek increasingly experience-rich, personalised products can not be taken for granted. Therefore, it is valuable to investigate the degree to which users really share designers' increasingly socio-emotional stances. The presented longitudinal study investigated users' mobile phone-related product meaning, particularly its development from 2004 to 2008. Product meaning was conceptualised in terms of an affective-cognizant choice mode dimension complemented by items capturing utilitarian, hedonic, and symbolic facets of the construct. The findings provide grounds for raising an important discussion about a possible pragmatic shift in product meaning, away from emotional and holistic, towards piecemeal and rational valuation. This would obviously challenge current design maxims. Linking these results to users' personality and mobile phone ownership history, subgroups with notably dissimilar product meaning development could be distinguished mainly with regard to levels of neuroticism, extraversion and brand loyalty – however, not gender.

Gestão da experiência de serviços de hospitalidade: o que a empresa propõe e qual o significado para o consumidor

The research work upon which this article is based had the main objective of collecting data to a better understanding of the consumption of hospitality services. The analytical approach places emphasis on the experience (ranging from “ordinary” to “extraordinary”) of a person, while he or she is consuming that type of service. It is argued that, even though objective factors put in place by the sellers do play an important role, they alone do not offer a satisfactory explanation for the experience of consuming hospitality services. The consumer’s subjectivity will strongly influence how he or she experiences the act of consuming those services – whether as an “ordinary experience”, an “extraordinary” one, or something in between. The research followed the phenomenological- -hermeneutic-case study approach. Two hotels with contrasting features were selected for observation: the first, a utilitarian; the other a more elaborate, hedonic one. For collecting the data, the following steps were in loco observation, and interviews in depth with consumers of the two selected hotel were made. It was found that the utilitarian features of hotel A influenced its costumers to more frequently view their experiences as “ordinary”; while the reverse has normally happened with costumers of the more sophisticate hotel B. While this is what should be expected, many deviations or nuances from this pattern were observed, which are attributed to the role of the consumer’s subjectivity. A thorough understanding of the act of consuming hospitality services, therefore, can only be reached if subjective factors are duly taken into account, as they are in this article.

The better mousetrap fallacy: A case study of the Bali Pathfinder tourist map

‘Build’ a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door’ is a slogan originating in the USA in the 19th century that could be applied to the Bali Pathfinder tourist map which is, in its utilitarian and artistic features, superior to other maps intended for tourists in Bali — and its price is lower. However, it is ‘a better mousetrap’ which relatively few tourists are beating a path to buy. Other maps are selling in larger quantities. Thus the case study illustrates what critical thinkers — skeptics — call ‘the better mousetrap fallacy’. A map of excellent quality — designed, published and distributed by a small-scale Balinese-owned business, has a minor share of its market. The weakness is in its method of distribution. In contrast, multinational publishers have a strong method, enabling them to capture a larger share. The strength of the multinationals cannot be matched by the small-scale local publisher.

Exploring the usefulness of awareness widgets in online shared workspaces: A preliminary case study

Users of different online shared workspaces have different activity awareness needs that should be supported by the application. This support could be provided through the use of widgets, which should be easily understandable, easy to use, and provide information expected by users. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the use of awareness widgets in uCern, a shared online workspace in the healthcare industry. In particular, we analyzed which awareness widgets uCern users used most, reasons for their choices, and perceived usefulness of these widgets for workflow management. Data collected through interviews and surveys showed that users chose widgets for general, team, and group awareness; content management; supporting connection among collaborators; and use of utilitarian features. Issues faced by users, implications of the study, as well as directions for future research are suggested.

Connotation fonctionnelle du mobilier funéraire en silex

This paper focuses on an issue evoked by one of the well-known cemeteries in northeast Bulgaria, at Durankulak, and so far the only one to be studied and published in detail. On the empirical basis of the functional determination of flint grave-goods, based on use-wear analysis of artifacts, some observations and interpretations are presented regarding the cognitive value of ritual flint objects from a ‘sacred’ context. Functional data provide the interpretative framework, and a clear dichotomy of functional meanings is revealed. The decoded utilitarian (profane) feature of flint grave-goods is only a first step towards a better understanding of the semiological value of lithics charged with the symbolic patterns of the mortuary context.

Recall, Similarity Judgment, and Identification of Trees: A Comparison of Experts and Novices

Abstract We compare experts and novices in their recall, similarity judgment, and identification of trees. These tasks assess different aspects of informants' knowledge of trees. Experts agree substantially on all three tasks. However, they judge similarity of pictures of trees relying more on morphological and taxonomic features while judging similarity of names of trees relying more on utilitarian features. Novices recall few trees and accurately identify almost none of them, but substantially agree with each other in their similarity judgments of trees. Thus, we find that the natural world can be understood by experts and novices alike, but that training sharpens observations and informs about properties of species not obvious by direct observation. Moreover, the kinds of features used by experts in similarity judgments are influenced by how species are represented. These results confirm and extend findings in prior research of James S. Boster and Jeffrey C. Johnson and Douglas L. Medin and colleagues. They also demonstrate how the domain knowledge of experts arises out of the many different ways in which they engage the trees and out of the diversity of activities and purposes in their community of practice. [categorization, ethnobiology, expert–novice differences, function and morphology, stimulus effects]

The Expressive Nature of Socially Responsible Investors

Socially responsible investors attempt to integrate their ethical, societal and religious values with their investments. They find it impossible to separate the utilitarian characteristics of an investment, namely its risk and expected returns, from its expressive characteristic of social responsibility. Not all values are shared by all investors and not all socially responsible investors are alike, but socially responsible investors find meaning in those words and that meaning is often lost in noisy debates between advocates of socially responsible investing and its detractors. I present here a few socially responsible investors in their own quiet words. They tell us about their ethical, societal and religious goals and about the experiences that led them to their goals. They also tell us about their investments and their efforts to further their goals beyond their investments. We listen to a nun saying that the most important issue to her order is human rights and human dignity, a video producer telling of the need to balance her desire for socially responsible investing with her financial reality, a student telling of growing up wealthy and awakening to social responsibility by encounters with poor children, and the owner of military related companies arguing that SRI should be about supporting companies that have the best policies and practices rather than companies whose products we like.

Empirical investigation of the ethical reasoning of physicians and molecular biologists – the importance of the four principles of biomedical ethics

BackgroundThis study presents an empirical investigation of the ethical reasoning and ethical issues at stake in the daily work of physicians and molecular biologists in Denmark. The aim of this study was to test empirically whether there is a difference in ethical considerations and principles between Danish physicians and Danish molecular biologists, and whether the bioethical principles of the American bioethicists Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress are applicable to these groups.MethodThis study is based on 12 semi-structured interviews with three groups of respondents: a group of oncology physicians working in a clinic at a public hospital and two groups of molecular biologists conducting basic research, one group employed at a public university and the other in a private biopharmaceutical company.ResultsIn this sample, the authors found that oncology physicians and molecular biologists employed in a private biopharmaceutical company have the specific principle of beneficence in mind in their daily work. Both groups are motivated to help sick patients. According to the study, molecular biologists explicitly consider nonmaleficence in relation to the environment, the researchers' own health, and animal models; and only implicitly in relation to patients or human subjects. In contrast, considerations of nonmaleficence by oncology physicians relate to patients or human subjects. Physicians and molecular biologists both consider the principle of respect for autonomy as a negative obligation in the sense that informed consent of patients should be respected. However, in contrast to molecular biologists, physicians experience the principle of respect for autonomy as a positive obligation as the physician, in dialogue with the patient, offers a medical prognosis based upon the patients wishes and ideas, mutual understanding, and respect. Finally, this study discloses utilitarian characteristics in the overall conception of justice as conceived by oncology physicians and molecular biologists from the private biopharmaceutical company. Molecular biologists employed at a public university are, in this study, concerned with allocation, however, they do not propose a specific theory of justice.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that each of the four bioethical principles of the American bioethicists Tom L. Beauchamp & James F. Childress – respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice – are reflected in the daily work of physicians and molecular biologists in Denmark. Consequently, these principles are applicable in the Danish biomedical setting.

Narrative, Imagination, and the Religion of Humanity in Mill's Ethics

This paper shows how the ethical benefits of Mill's Religion of HumanityÑa life imbued with purpose, an improved regard for others, and greater happiness for oneself from the pleasures of fellow-feelingÑare to be actualized through the imagination's creation of compelling narratives about humanity. Understanding the ethical importance of the Religion of Humanity therefore implies understanding the central role of imagination in Millian ethical life. This investigation serves to articulate a feature of Mill's utilitarianism that differentiates it from Bentham's, namely his commitment to the importance of a religious sensibility in the moral agent. It also raises the broader philosophical issue of what narratives a psychologically tenable humanist world-view requires.

A Psychographic Analysis of College Students' Alcohol Consumption: Implications for Prevention and Consumer Education

On the basis of alcohol consumption rates, the authors segmented a sample of college students (N = 669) into four types: the non/seldom drinker (17%), the social drinker (43%), the typical binge drinker (25%), and the heavy binge drinker (14%). Once the four segments were defined, each was profiled employing a psychographic scheme that encompasses personal values, beliefs regarding drinking, alcohol shopping orientations, situational contingencies, and demographics. Binge drinkers were best differentiated from social drinkers and non/seldom drinkers by social-hedonic characteristics such as social-affiliation values, psychological consequences of drinking, recreational shopping orientations, and social situations. Binge drinkers were also differentiated by several other market/consumption relevant factors. On the other hand, several utilitarian characteristics, such as health/moral consciousness, differentiated non/seldom drinkers from other groups. Discussion and the implications of this study are presented with the goal of aiding binge drinkers themselves as well as prevention and intervention practitioners.

Human values, utilitarian benefits and identification: the case of meat

AbstractThe present studies explored the associations among food's utilitarian benefits, the human values symbolised by meat, individuals' endorsement of those values, and individuals' meat identification, attitudes and consumption. A preliminary study revealed that participants perceived that meat, particularly red meat, symbolises the endorsement of inequality and hierarchy values more than other basic foods. Studies 1 and 2 found that the endorsement of inequality and hierarchy formed the basis to the meat attitudes and consumption of high meat identifiers. Study 2 found that the meat attitudes of high meat identifiers were also founded, though to a lesser extent, in the endorsement of Conservation and rejection of Openness values. Study 1 also showed that food's nutritional benefits did not form the basis of meat consumption among high meat identifiers. Moreover, Study 3 found that informing individuals (in the treatment group) of the nutritional deficiencies of meat did not alter the meat attitudes of high meat identifiers, meat identification per se, or the meat attitudes of individuals who have a predisposition to attend to the symbolic meanings of products. In contrast, the negative nutritional information did produce unfavourable meat attitudes among low meat identifiers and those who have a predisposition to attend to the utilitarian features of products. The formation of meat identification is discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.