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When less pressure leads to more talk: sales tactics and word-of-mouth
No full textThis study investigates how encourage-to-deliberate versus pressure-to-purchase sales tactics influence customers' positive word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviour. Drawing from research on influence tactics and self-determination theory, we propose that encourage-to-deliberate tactics, which align with noncoercive approaches emphasizing rational persuasion, are more likely to trigger positive WOM, compared to pressure-to-purchase strategies. Through five experimental studies across diverse retail contexts (clothing, travel products, fitness services, and electronics), we demonstrate that this effect is mediated by customers' sense of agency - the experience of being the initiator of one's actions and their consequences. Furthermore, we find that customers' self-efficacy moderates this relationship, with the positive effect of encourage-to-deliberate tactics being stronger for customers with low (vs. high) self-efficacy. Our findings extend sales influence research beyond immediate purchase outcomes to word-of-mouth behaviour, offering implications for how retailers can foster positive WOM through agency-supportive sales approaches
Effect of FRAXplus adjustments on fracture risk reclassification in older Swedish women-results from the SUPERB-study
No full textSummary: FRAXplus® facilitates adjustment of FRAX® fracture probabilities for additional clinical risk factors. This study examined how FRAXplus adjustments affect the proportion of older Swedish women eligible for treatment at a major osteoporotic fracture (MOF) probability intervention threshold (IT) ≥ 26%. Background: FRAXplus enables adjustments based on additional clinical information, such as recency of osteoporotic fractures, high-dose oral glucocorticoids, T2DM duration, lumbar spine (LS) bone mineral density (BMD), trabecular bone score (TBS), falls in the previous year, and hip axis length. We aimed to determine how these adjustments alter treatment eligibility in older Swedish women. Methods: Ten-year fracture probabilities with femoral neck BMD were calculated using FRAX and adjusted by FRAXplus in the SUPERB cohort of 3028 Swedish women aged 75 to 80 years. Clinical risk factors (CRFs) and outcomes were collected via questionnaires and national registers over 8 years, with incident X-ray-verified MOFs. FRAXplus adjustments were applied one factor at a time; if multiple were available, the most influential factor was used. Net reclassification improvement (NRI) was calculated. Results: Overall, 90% (n = 2723) had their 10-year MOF probability adjusted upwards, with a mean (± SD) change of 4.25% (5.12%). Common adjustments included HAL (31%), TBS (23%), falls (20%), LS BMD (8%), and recent fracture (5%). Similar patterns were observed for hip fracture probabilities. Among those below the IT using FRAX alone, 1785 remained below, with 365 (20.4%) experiencing incident MOFs. Of 339 women uplifted above the IT using FRAXplus, 119 (35.1%) sustained incident MOFs. Among 904 above the IT with both FRAX and FRAXplus, 324 (35.8%) experienced incident MOFs. The NRI was 4.82% (95% CI: 1.87–7.77%; p < 0.01). Conclusions: FRAXplus improved risk stratification, with a significant proportion of older Swedish women having their fracture probabilities uplifted above the IT, more accurately reflecting their elevated fracture risk, thereby enhancing the utility of risk assessment tools and improving patient management.</p
The real effects of Brexit on labor demand: evidence from firm-level data
No full textUsing the distance to the Irish border of UK firms that have not changed their location since the 2016 Referendum to isolate the effects of Brexit at the firm level, we find that Brexit implementation in 2020 caused exposed firms to cut their workforce by up to 15.7% on average relative to non-exposed firms. These exposed firms are also more likely to have lower growth expectations and more likely to increase their research and development (R&D) expenditure. In addition, having ex-ante trade exposure, either with or outside the EU, can help alleviate such negative effects of Brexit. Such results highlight the role of trade exposure and the expectation channel, and support the hypothesis that firms prioritize innovations in response to Brexit
Forecasting the diffusion of electric vehicles: an agent-based model including household choice and social effects of coherence and communication
No full textTo address the problem of forecasting the diffusion of innovations, we propose an agent-based model to forecast the electric vehicle (EV) market, that considers fuel type choices, simultaneously tackling household decision-making and cognition (in the form of coherence evaluation), as well as processes of communication between households in their social network, which are the drivers of diffusion in the social network. We use a latent class discrete choice model to characterise fuel type choice at the household level, including preference heterogeneity, along with attitudinal and emotional effects with the hot coherence (HOTCO) model of cognitive consistency. Our agent-based model also incorporates direct and indirect communication between households in the network. The results are indicative of the need for a vast range of measures tackling several dimensions of vehicle purchase, ownership, and use, to ensure faster EV market diffusion
Loop space decompositions of moment-angle complexes associated to two dimensional simplicial complexes
No full textWe show that the loop space of a moment-angle complex associated to a two-dimensional simplicial complex decomposes as a finite type product of spheres, loops on spheres and certain indecomposable spaces which appear in the loop space decomposition of Moore spaces. We also give conditions on certain subcomplexes under which, localised away from sufficiently many primes, the loop space of a moment-angle complex decomposes as a finite type product of spheres and loops on spheres.</p
Nowcasting in triple-system estimation
No full textMultiple systems estimation uses samples that each cover part of a population to obtain a total population size estimate. Ideally, all available samples are used, but if some samples are available (much) later, one may use only the samples that are available early. Under some regularity conditions, including sample independence, two samples are enough to obtain an asymptotically unbiased population size estimate. However, the assumption of sample independence may be unrealistic, especially when the samples are derived from administrative sources. The assumption of sample independence can be relaxed when using three or more samples, which is therefore generally recommended. This may be a problem if the third sample is available much later than the first two samples. Therefore, in this paper we propose a new approach that deals with this issue by utilizing older samples, using the so-called expectation maximization algorithm. This leads to a population size nowcast estimate that is asymptotically unbiased under more relaxed assumptions than the estimate based on two samples. The resulting nowcasting model is applied to the problem of estimating the number of homeless people in The Netherlands, leading to reasonably accurate nowcast estimates
Worst of the bunch: visual comparative benchmarks change evaluations of government performance
No full textBenchmarking theories argue voters use information about other countries’ performances, usually on the economy and obtained through experience or media, to evaluate their own governments. Yet existing observational evidence is relatively fragile and struggles to distinguish how people become more knowledgeable. Using a pre-registered experiment, we showed UK respondents a chart displaying the UK’s exceptionally high cumulative COVID-19 deaths either in isolation or alongside European countries with fewer deaths. Mimicking widely-circulated charts, this visual treatment enhances our study’s external validity and tests the media-based channel for benchmarking. Aligned with pre-registered expectations, seeing the UK as “worst of the bunch” compared to UK-only data caused more negative government evaluations. Unexpectedly, partisanship did not moderate the information effects, while exploratory tests revealed the visuals generated more negative evaluations among respondents with high political trust. Our study shows international comparisons in visual forms can change domestic opinion, and on matters beyond strictly economic performance.</p
Together we are better: when students take charge or are involved in student-staff collaborations
No full textIn many post-graduate taught programmes in the UK, time is often at a premium with the assumption that students will take charge of their schedule effectively. Students - regardless of their educational background and context – are also expected to rapidly adapt and adjust to their new learning environment. Invariably, there will be some who struggle more than others where the initial period of adjustment will be fraught with many challenges. What can institutions of higher learning do to mitigate them? What can intensive (9-month) postgraduate programmes do to ‘clear the path’ for this important academic journey for postgraduate students? Are there ways to increase student agency while encouraging their academic progression with mastery of threshold concepts? What happens when educators work systematically and consistently with student representatives, with the primary goal of increasing understanding of key learning outcomes? In one such programme, on a module based around learning advanced research methods, a small group of educators and student representatives collaborated with the main aim of making the module more engaging, digestible and possibly enjoyable for everyone. This presentation shares some insights from this on-going collaboration: where roles are already evolving within different layers or levels of activities or learning, and where transformative learning – for both educators and student cohort – is taking place. It is hoped that through sharing and presenting these preliminary results such as impact from changes to material design and content of seminars and workshops, this will spark ideas on pedagogy which can feedback into this student-educator collaboration in a positive loop of learning. <br/
Promoting the mental health of children with anxious mothers and fathers: examining risk factors and parents’ needs
No full textThe rising rates of mental ill-health among children and young people represent a pressing global concern and are currently recognised as an international health priority. Investing in prevention has been identified as a key solution to limit these increasing rates and mitigate the associated burden. However, to develop and implement effective prevention strategies, it is crucial to identify the risk factors contributing to youth mental ill-health. Existing literature indicates that parental mental illness is an important, modifiable, risk factor for child mental ill-health. Among all the psychiatric conditions in the general population, anxiety disorders are the most prevalent worldwide, particularly in parents. This thesis, therefore, focuses specifically on the risk posed by parental anxiety to their children and explores strategies to promote the mental health of children with anxious parents.In Chapter 1, I (i) review the theoretical and empirical evidence related to the importance of parents for child development and the impact of parental mental illness, including anxiety symptoms and disorders, on child mental health outcomes, and (ii) highlight current limitations in the available literature on parental anxiety and child mental health. In the empirical work presented in the following chapters (2-4), I address some of these knowledge gaps. Specifically, in Chapter 2, I focus on our limited understanding of the role played by fathers and present a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis showing that paternal anxiety is significantly associated with offspring emotional and behavioural difficulties with small and small-to-medium effect sizes. In Chapter 3, I examine the specific contributions of paternal perinatal anxiety and attempt to disentangle the differential effects of prenatal vs postnatal exposure to paternal anxiety on later child mental health outcomes. In a prospective longitudinal study, using data from a large UK-based birth cohort, I show that paternal perinatal anxiety is a unique risk factor for child mental ill-health, even after accounting for maternal mental health, child temperament and sociodemographic variables, and highlight different patterns of associations at different child ages. In Chapter 4, I address the current lack of understanding of how to support anxious parents in promoting mental health among their children and present a qualitative study that provides insights into what an accessible and acceptable preventive service should entail. Findings from the three empirical chapters are discussed collectively in Chapter 5 and reviewed in the context of the broader literature presented in Chapter 1. In Chapter 5, I also discuss the implications of the findings for research and clinical practice and indicate directions for future research, highlighting the importance of involving both mothers and fathers in the promotion of child mental health
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