Educating PhD students for knowledge-driven society

Universities educate students for working in knowledge-driven societies. Whereas subject-related knowledge is part of every curriculum, institutions of higher education fail to teach systematically how to utilize and benefit from today’s variety of digital tools. Students and researchers are mostly unaware of what they lack to work more effectively and efficiently and to benefit from existing knowledge. Since this lack of awareness is not obvious to students and researchers (unknown unknowns; you cannot miss something that you do not know), it is difficult to convince them that there is a gap that needs to be filled. In 2014, we decided to tackle this problem by creating and developing the course “Scientific Information Retrieval & Management in Life Sciences and Chemistry”. The unique 2 ECTS course features a multi-level approach to obtain and employ scientific information and to get students information savvy. On one hand, the course demonstrates the bigger picture: We discuss the aspects of scientific writing and publishing, critical choice of data sources, patents, visualisation and design, text mining and data pipelining, knowledge generation, outreach and impact of publications. On the other hand, we highlight an extensive list of field-proven tools that can assist researchers in their daily activities. We also wanted to foster a lasting impact on how students utilize databases, tools, software,and web services. Thus, at the end of the course students have to write an essay describing their current information workflow or their (un)met information needs. These essays confirm and explain how the students changed their information use, and which parts of the course they may have not understood. Moreover, essays that describe unmet information needs allow us to explore possible solutions and to work with our vendors. In our talk, we will share the concept for the course and report on our experiences.

Digital Citizen and Digital Society: the Impact of Individual and Society on Achieving National Strategic Goals

Russia faces a critical choice. The world civilizational shift objectively determines the new roles of the individual, society, state and new models of their relationships and mutual influences. The digital citizen and the digital society are becoming the main factors of success in achieving national strategic goals, the balance of individual and social development forms the social order of the 21st century in Russia.

Travel booking intentions and information searching during COVID-19

PurposeThis exploratory paper examined consumers' use of information sources and intentions to book future travel in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Authors expected that general news and travel information accessed on the Internet would impact travel intentions.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 547 US online consumer panelists when all states were under “stay-at-home orders” in April 2020.FindingsDifferences existed in the impact of three stressors (health, personal and financial) on the use of information sources (general news and travel sources) and ultimately on booking intentions.Practical implicationsThe lack of influence health stressors had on travel research activity raises a question for the travel industry as to critical choice of messages to be imparted during pandemic environments.Originality/valueA three-factor model was used to assess the determinants of booking intentions during uncertain times. Authors applied the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to explore information searching for travel during the pandemic.

Why a New Name? The Role of Asset Characteristics and Broad Market Trends in Predicting Brand Affiliation Change in Hotels

Brand affiliation is a critical choice in the hotel business. The decision to change brand (i.e., “rebranding”) may be determined by asset-level private information as well as publicly known information related to the property. In this article, we focus on nonprivate information, such as property features as well as market and industry performance indicators. Using the semiparametric and parametric hazard models, we show that variables such as hotels’ past record of affiliation changes, age, class, type, and location help predict the likelihood of rebranding. This analysis should increase the ability of industry practitioners to define rebranding risk and to use it as a competitive advantage.

LEVERAGING CONSUMER EXPERIENCE WITH THE CRITICAL CHOICE OF RETAIL OUTLETS- AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

Personal selling efforts became highly essential for selling products in competitive markets. Most companies take a customer-oriented approach to personal selling. They train salespeople to identify customer needs and to find solutions. This approach assumes that customer needs provide sales opportunities, which customers appreciate good suggestions, and that customers will be loyal to salespeople who have their long-term interests at heart. The problem-solver salesperson fits better with the marketing concept than does a hard-sell salesperson or the glad-handling extrovert. Buyer’s today want solutions, not smiles; results, not razzle-dazzle. They want salespeople who listen to their concerns, understand their needs, and respond with the right products and services. The sales force serves as a critical link between a company and its customers. In many cases, salespeople serve both masters-the seller and the buyer. KEY WORDS: Personal selling, problem-solver salesperson, razzle-dazzle. .

Educating PhD students for knowledge-driven society

Universities educate students for working in knowledge-driven societies. Whereas subject-related knowledge is part of every curriculum, institutions of higher education fail to teach systematically how to utilize and benefit from today’s variety of digital tools. Students and researchers are mostly unaware of what they lack to work more effectively and efficiently and to benefit from existing knowledge. Since this lack of awareness is not obvious to students and researchers (unknown unknowns; you cannot miss something that you do not know), it is difficult to convince them that there is a gap that needs to be filled. In 2014, we decided to tackle this problem by creating and developing the course “Scientific Information Retrieval & Management in Life Sciences and Chemistry”. The unique 2 ECTS course features a multi-level approach to obtain and employ scientific information and to get students information savvy. On one hand, the course demonstrates the bigger picture: We discuss the aspects of scientific writing and publishing, critical choice of data sources, patents, visualisation and design, text mining and data pipelining, knowledge generation, outreach and impact of publications. On the other hand, we highlight an extensive list of field-proven tools that can assist researchers in their daily activities. We also wanted to foster a lasting impact on how students utilize databases, tools, software, and web services. Thus, at the end of the course students have to write an essay describing their current information workflow or their (un)met information needs. These essays confirm and explain how the students changed their information use, and which parts of the course they may have not understood. Moreover, essays that describe unmet information needs allow us to explore possible solutions and to work with our vendors. In our talk, we will share the concept for the course and report on our experiences.

Food “buycott” as an ethical choice against mafia in Italy

Purpose As indicated in the Italian law (No. 109-1996), agri-food co-operatives can also play a role in combatting mafia-type systems by choosing to grow their food products in lands confiscated from mafia-type organisations. These food products provide individuals with a new opportunity to fight criminal organisations on the marketplace. The purpose of this study is to explore how people react to a social marketing initiative devoted to promoting food “buycotting” to counteract mafia-type organisations in Italy. Design/methodology/approach The data were obtained from a convenience sample of 339 Italians, and the study adopted a model inspired by the general theory of marketing ethics. A structural equation model was applied to estimate both the parameter and coefficient functions. Findings Individuals recognise the ethical value of “buycotting”. However, they perceive this form of critical choice as not yet being fully effective in counteracting mafia-type systems in Italy. Practical implications The results suggest that promotional and psychological approaches from marketing literature can be effectively used to influence the consumer’s ethical judgement by selectively communicating and emphasising the benefits of the critical consumption investigated. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to address consumers’ ethical judgments and their reactions towards buycotting food as a critical choice to reward socially responsible corporations.