scholarly journals Health Star Ratings and Beverage Purchase Intentions: A Study of Australian and New Zealand Hospitality Consumers

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2764
Author(s):  
Rob Hallak ◽  
Craig Lee ◽  
Ilke Onur

This study examines the effects of a health star rating system on the attitudes of consumers and their purchase intentions towards beverage products sold in hospitality venues. Previous studies linking health ratings to the food and beverages of consumers mainly focus on fast-moving consumer goods and retail purchasing. However, purchasing patterns in hospitality and foodservice environments are distinct as consumers may be less concerned about health and more interested in the dining experience. Thus, this research focuses on: (1) whether the presence of health star ratings on beverage products influences the willingness of consumers to purchase in the context of the hospitality industry, and (2) identifying the demographic and psychographic factors influencing these behavioural intentions. Using Ordinary Least Squares regression to analyse data from an e-survey of 1021 consumers in Australia and New Zealand, the study found that health star ratings do have an impact on the willingness of consumers to purchase healthy beverages. Specifically, psychographic segmentation around ‘health goals’ is far more pertinent to understanding purchase behaviour in a hospitality setting than age, gender, income, or country. The findings present new insights into the importance of health star labelling on beverages and the purchase intentions of consumers.

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1535-1547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Fligor ◽  
Sandra Levey ◽  
Tania Levey

Purpose This study examined listening levels and duration of portable listening devices (PLDs) used by people with diversity of ethnicity, education, music genre, and PLD manufacturer. The goal was to estimate participants’ PLD noise exposure and identify factors influencing user behavior. Method This study measured listening levels of 160 adults in 2 New York City locations: (a) a quiet college campus and (b) Union Square, a busy interchange. Participants completed a questionnaire regarding demographics and PLD use. Ordinary least squares regression was used to explore the significance of demographic and behavioral factors. Results Average listening level was 94.1 dBA, with 99 of 160 (61.9%) and 92 of 159 (57.5%) exceeding daily (L A8hn ) and weekly (L Awkn ) recommended exposure limit, respectively. African American participants listened at the highest average levels (99.8 dBA). Conclusions A majority of PLD users exceeded recommended exposure levels. Factors significant for higher exposure were ethnicity and age; factors not significantly associated with exposure were gender, education, location, awareness of possible association between PLD use and noise-induced hearing loss, mode of transportation, device manufacturer, and music genre. Efforts to effect behavior changes to lessen noise-induced hearing loss risk from PLD use should be sensitive to the cultural differences within the targeted population.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 833-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina TAY

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Internet impacts trade in education. Divided into three time frames – 2000 to 2006, 2007 to 2012 and 2000 to 2012, data on 189 countries was used to compare the impact of different intensities of the Internet access on trade in education. This research uses the following methods to analyse data: pooled ordinary least squares regression, fixed-effects model and random effects model. Results suggest that the Internet facilitates trade in education, the impact of which is between 16.4% and 21% for every 0.01% increase in Internet access. Larger countries and countries that share a common language show a highly significant impact of the Internet on trade in education for all three time frames at 0.01%. However, economic health of a country does not necessarily imply greater trade. This study finds mixed results for fixed (wired) broadband over the three time frames. The results explain between 63.2% and 74.9% of the impact of the Internet on trade in education. Finally, the results of this study strongly suggest that improving Internet access in a country will stimulate trade in education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravivan Suwansin ◽  
John K.M. Kuwornu ◽  
Avishek Datta ◽  
Damien Jourdain ◽  
Ganesh P. Shivakoti

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of the revolving fund (RF) regarding the ability of smallholder debtors to retrieve land title deeds, and also to examine the factors influencing the outstanding debts and percentage of outstanding interest of the smallholders in the Central and Northeastern regions of Thailand. Design/methodology/approach Primary data were collected from 430 debtors in the Central and Northeastern regions of Thailand in order to compare the differences in livelihood assets as well as their opinions on benefits derived from the operation of the RF. Secondary data were also collected from the RF administration, in order to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the fund. Heteroskedasticity-corrected ordinary least squares and Tobit regression models were employed to examine the factors influencing the outstanding debts and percentage of outstanding interest of the smallholders, respectively. Furthermore, the student’s t-test was used to examine the differences in the livelihood assets among debtors in the two regions; and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine differences in livelihood indicator scores among the three types of debtors. Findings The empirical results revealed that the RF is effective as the fund could provide loan to smallholders to enable them redeem their land title deeds from their previous creditors. The t-test results reveal significant differences in the livelihood assets among debtors in the two regions. One-way ANOVA indicates differences in livelihood indicator scores among the three types of debtors. The results of the heteroskedasticity-corrected ordinary least squares regression revealed that being married, low frequency of floods and less influence of third parties significantly reduced the outstanding debts. The results of the censored Tobit regression revealed that increased frequency of meeting with the RF administration, less influence of third parties, high land potential and interaction of age and experience significantly decreased the percentage of outstanding interest. Practical implications It is imperative to intensify information and education regarding the regulations, payment terms and modalities to clients in order to facilitate repayments of the loans disbursed. The organization of the RF should pay particular attention to the role of the committees involved, information administration and loan repayment monitoring. The RF should increase the frequency of meetings with smallholders, minimize the influence of third parties and give priority to old and experienced smallholders who possess land with high potential for earning incomes to enable them repay the loans. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examined the effectiveness of the RF to enable smallholders retrieve their land title deeds.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna Reddy ◽  
Stuart Locke

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of corporate governance practised by co-operatives and mutual societies in New Zealand and whether there is any relationship between co-operatives’ ownership structure, capital structure and agency costs. The study also explores whether the capital structure and the ownership structure changed during the period 2005-2011. Design/methodology/approach – Panel data for the period 2005-2011 are analysed using ordinary least squares regression and the Tobit model regression. The authors have used operating expense to sales, asset utilisation and ROA as the dependent variables. Findings – The findings indicate that an increase in independent directors, board member experience and size (measured by total annual sales) reduces agency costs in co-operatives and mutuals in New Zealand. Also, borrowing from members rather than banks reduces agency cost and increases profitability in co-operatives and mutuals. Research limitations/implications – Caution should be exercised when generalising the findings of the study as it is restricted to New Zealand environment and the sample size used is relatively small. Practical implications – This study offers insights for policy makers internationally who are interested in adopting similar corporate governance practices in their own countries. Within New Zealand, the corporate governance debate associated with co-operatives and mutual societies will be better informed as a direct consequence of this research. Originality/value – This is the first study that extends the research undertaken by Ang et al. (2000) and Singh and Davidson (2003) to the cooperative and mutual business model in New Zealand.


2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-191
Author(s):  
Tumiso Melembe

This paper investigated factors influencing value addition agricultural choices of smallholder farming agribusinesses in the Gauteng Province, South Africa, using the Ordinary Least Squares regression model. The study used randomly sampled data collected from 102 smallholder farmers by the National Agricultural Marketing Council and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Four types of value addition were identified, namely postharvest, food preservation, milling, and post-slaughter. The results revealed that the number of people in the household, permanent workers, and access to training influences smallholder farmers’ choice of post-harvest, food preservation, and post-slaughter value addition. Besides, milling value addition is influenced by the size of the farm, grain, and livestock production, together with access to information and training. These results call for government intervention in promoting agro-processing and value addition activities to encourage farmer participation, income generation, and poverty alleviation, thus improving the farmers’ livelihoods.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimu Ehalaiye ◽  
Nives Botica-Redmayne ◽  
Fawzi Laswad

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the financial determinants of local government debt in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach To investigate the financial determinants of local government debt in New Zealand, the authors analyse the relationship between key financial variables with local government debt in New Zealand based on the theories of fiscal accountability and moral hazard using a panel data methodology, specifically the pooled ordinary least squares regression model. Findings The findings suggest that council income is the major financial determinant of local government borrowing in New Zealand rather than infrastructural spending and that during the global financial crises (GFC) borrowing levels of New Zealand local councils was not significantly impacted. However, the findings indicate that post the GFC, low interest rates have stimulated increased borrowing activity by New Zealand local governments to fund infrastructure. Originality/value This paper is the first to examine the determinants of local government debt in New Zealand. The findings of this study contribute to better understanding of local government/municipality debt in New Zealand and internationally by providing evidence on the financial determinants of debt of local governments and the indirect use of government policy to control local government borrowing. The findings of this study are anticipated to affect local government practices and national government policies in relation to local government finances.


Author(s):  
Jeremy Freese

This article presents a method and program for identifying poorly fitting observations for maximum-likelihood regression models for categorical dependent variables. After estimating a model, the program leastlikely will list the observations that have the lowest predicted probabilities of observing the value of the outcome category that was actually observed. For example, when run after estimating a binary logistic regression model, leastlikely will list the observations with a positive outcome that had the lowest predicted probabilities of a positive outcome and the observations with a negative outcome that had the lowest predicted probabilities of a negative outcome. These can be considered the observations in which the outcome is most surprising given the values of the independent variables and the parameter estimates and, like observations with large residuals in ordinary least squares regression, may warrant individual inspection. Use of the program is illustrated with examples using binary and ordered logistic regression.


2021 ◽  
pp. 108482232199038
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Plummer ◽  
William F. Wempe

Beginning January 1, 2020, Medicare’s Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) eliminated therapy as a direct determinant of Home Health Agencies’ (HHAs’) reimbursements. Instead, PDGM advances Medicare’s shift toward value-based payment models by directly linking HHAs’ reimbursements to patients’ medical conditions. We use 3 publicly-available datasets and ordered logistic regression to examine the associations between HHAs’ pre-PDGM provision of therapy and their other agency, patient, and quality characteristics. Our study therefore provides evidence on PDGM’s likely effects on HHA reimbursements assuming current patient populations and service levels do not change. We find that PDGM will likely increase payments to rural and facility-based HHAs, as well as HHAs serving greater proportions of non-white, dual-eligible, and seriously ill patients. Payments will also increase for HHAs scoring higher on quality surveys, but decrease for HHAs with higher outcome and process quality scores. We also use ordinary least squares regression to examine residual variation in HHAs’ expected reimbursement changes under PDGM, after accounting for any expected changes related to their pre-PDGM levels of therapy provision. We find that larger and rural HHAs will likely experience residual payment increases under PDGM, as will HHAs with greater numbers of seriously ill, younger, and non-white patients. HHAs with higher process quality, but lower outcome quality, will similarly benefit from PDGM. Understanding how PDGM affects HHAs is crucial as policymakers seek ways to increase equitable access to safe and affordable non-facility-provided healthcare that provides appropriate levels of therapy, nursing, and other care.


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