Purpose - In an online banking context this study seeks to explore the relation between the relationship marketing factors of customer intentions to continue to use services and to recommend these ...services to others, and the technology acceptance factors of self-control, usefulness, customer value, technology-based service encounter satisfaction and reputation. Innovatively this study also compares the proposed model in two countries, Portugal and Austria. Design/methodology/approach - Derived from a review of previous literature, a survey was developed and data were collected using the online survey service of universities in two countries, Portugal and Austria. The partial least squares approach was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings - The findings showed that self-control and usefulness are important antecedents of customer value delivery. Furthermore perceptions of online bank reputation were enhanced by the satisfaction derived from positive customer encounters with online banking services. Unlike the Portuguese, Austrians' perceptions of bank reputation did not significantly influence their intention to continue to use or their propensity to recommend online banking to others. Originality/value - Based on literature which suggests that constructs such as customer value, trust, satisfaction and reputation are inter-related to the technology acceptance model, this paper extends earlier theoretical frameworks and is the first study to incorporate relationship marketing constructs into a model examining intention to use, and recommending online banking services. The study also differentiates the model in two countries that represent different business and cultural settings: Portugal and Austria.
From LTER to LTSER Haberl, Helmut; Winiwarter, Verena; Andersson, Krister ...
Ecology and society,
12/2006, Letnik:
11, Številka:
2
Journal Article
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Concerns about global environmental change challenge long term ecological research (LTER) to go beyond traditional disciplinary scientific research to produce knowledge that can guide society toward ...more sustainable development. Reporting the outcomes of a 2 d interdisciplinary workshop, this article proposes novel concepts to substantially expand LTER by including the human dimension. We feel that such an integration warrants the insertion of a new letter in the acronym, changing it from LTER to LTSER, “Long-Term Socioecological Research,” with a focus on coupled socioecological systems. We discuss scientific challenges such as the necessity to link biophysical processes to governance and communication, the need to consider patterns and processes across several spatial and temporal scales, and the difficulties of combining data from in-situ measurements with statistical data, cadastral surveys, and soft knowledge from the humanities. We stress the importance of including prefossil fuel system baseline data as well as maintaining the often delicate balance between monitoring and predictive or explanatory modeling. Moreover, it is challenging to organize a continuous process of cross-fertilization between rich descriptive and causal-analytic local case studies and theory/modeling-oriented generalizations. Conceptual insights are used to derive conclusions for the design of infrastructures needed for long-term socioecological research.
We investigated the structure of invertebrate food webs at three glacier foreland sites of an age of 2–34, ca. 60 and ca. 120 years in the European Alps at 2250–2450
m asl. The trophic structure was ...investigated by analyzing stable isotope ratios of
15N/
14N and
13C/
12C. The results suggest that the formation of terrestrial food webs during early primary succession heavily relies on prey out of the decomposer system with Collembola being most important. The diet of decomposers likely is based predominantly on allochthonous humus material blown in by wind and deposited by the retreating glacier. Irrespective of the successional stage the animal community consisted mainly of generalist predators with a number of species occurring at each of the successional stages. The results suggest that terrestrial food web formation is associated with a prolongation of food chains caused mainly by predator species switching their diet to include other predators, i.e. by intraguild predation. This suggests that generalist predators, such as cursorial spiders, carabid beetles, harvestman and centipedes, switch prey and include other predators if these are becoming more abundant, i.e. if ecosystems become more productive. Intraguild predation results in complex food webs with high linkage density which likely affects food web functioning and stability.
In 2015, a new kind of company was introduced by law in Italy: the for-Benefit Company (fBComp). Such firms are characterized by a relevant novelty: they are for-profit companies whose statute ...explicitly recognizes and intends the impact of managerial decisions on the wellbeing of society as well as of its shareholders. This study suggests on the fBComp as a new “social” business model (SBM) which integrates social and competitive behaviors. Thereby, the company achieves its objectives by creating and maintaining biunivocal relations with stakeholders, co-creating contextual sustainability conditions, increasing its reputation and positioning compared to its competitors. By conducting a desk analysis on the results of the Italian Report on fBComp, this paper designs a portrait of this innovative social business model's main features and explains its possibly far-reaching, trendsetting and curing influences on the transition of management practices towards mutual stakeholders' wellbeing and a sustainable society.
Ectotherms are sensitive to temperature change, and predictions about a species' vulnerability to thermal change require an understanding of its thermal responses. The preferred temperature in ...laboratory assays is a widely used measure commonly taken as an indicator of the temperature at which ectotherms' physiological functions are optimised. The ecological relevance of laboratory-measured temperature preference has been evaluated for vertebrate ectotherms but to our knowledge not for Drosophila. Here, we assessed the links between laboratory thermal preference and habitat temperature in the alpine fly Drosophila nigrosparsa. We found that (i) in the laboratory, D. nigrosparsa preferred a temperature of about 10 °C. In the field, (ii) macrohabitat temperatures ranged from 17 to 22 °C, and (iii) microhabitat temperatures exceeded those of the macrohabitat with up to 35 °C at full sun exposure. (iv) Isotope-tracked flies were localised, among others, at nearly the maximum temperature conditions measured in the microhabitats. (v) Operative environmental temperature models revealed that air temperature has the highest impact on the flies’ experienced temperature, followed by global solar radiation and wind. These findings highlight that the preferred temperature in the laboratory differed strongly from that in the field and that different approaches lead to different conclusions about the preferred and experienced temperatures.
Pioneer communities establishing themselves in the barren terrain in front of glacier forelands consist principally of predator species such as carabid beetles and lycosid spiders. The fact that so ...many different predators can co‐inhabit an area with no apparent primary production was initially explained by allochthonous material deposited in these forelands. However, whether these populations can be sustained on allochthonous material alone is questionable and recent studies point towards this assumption to be flawed. Intraguild predation (IGP) might play an important role in these pioneer predator assemblages, especially in the very early successional stages where other prey is scarce. Here, we investigated IGP between the main predator species and their consumption of Collembola, an important autochthonous alternative prey, within a glacier foreland in the Ötztal (Austrian Alps). Multiplex PCR and stable isotope analysis were used to characterize the trophic niches in an early and late pioneer stage over 2 years. Results showed that intraguild prey was consumed by all invertebrate predators, particularly the larger carabid species. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, the DNA detection frequency of IGP prey was not significantly higher in early than in late pioneer stage, which was corroborated by the stable isotope analysis. Collembola were the most frequently detected prey in all of the predators, and the overall prey DNA detection patterns were consistent between years. Our findings show that IGP appears as a constant in these pioneer predator communities and that it remains unaffected by successional changes.
The aim of this research is to explore how online engagement influences positive versus negative consumption-focused self-expression word-of-mouth. Three brands are selected to be the focus of the ...study (Starbucks, Apple, and McDonald’s), and six online brand communities of these brands participated. The online questionnaire was distributed to those communities and filled in by 600 members of the respective love and hate brand communities. Affection (passion/aversion) is the motivational factor that leads community members of both types (love and hate) to be active in commenting and writing reviews about the product/brand. In hate brand communities, connecting negatively influences consumption-focused self-expression word-of-mouth, whilst brand influence has a positive effect on it.
Climate change was already shown to increase species numbers in high elevations. In contrast, grazing might interfere with climate change effects. To disentangle both the effects remains a major ...challenge of alpine ecology. The present study investigated both the effects on species diversity along an elevation gradient in the Austrian Central Alps. We aimed to answer the following questions: How do species diversity and frequency of subalpine–alpine–subnival plant communities change in grazed sites with time? Do competitive plant species increase in the communities? How does grazing exclusion affect species diversity, functional groups, and strategy types? Are environmental changes (temperature, sunshine duration, precipitation) responsible for diversity changes or does grazing override climate effects? The study was carried out for 18 years along an elevation gradient from 1,958 to 2,778 m a.s.l. at Obergurgl (Tyrol, Austria), including six different plant communities. A total of 11 grazing exclusions were established. At each community, the frequency of the species was counted in 1 m
2
plots yearly or at least every 3–4 years. Environmental data were obtained from the weather station Obergurgl. Changes of the community parameters and the species composition were analyzed by partial redundancy analyses and mixed-effect models. Species diversity increased with time at all grazed sites, but this increase was suppressed under grazing exclusion. Grazing exclusion effects became pronounced after 5 years. The most consistent result was the increase of bryophytes throughout. At the subalpine grassland, tall-growing species expanded in the exclosures; at the upper alpine
Carex curvula
grassland, snow bed species decreased with grazing exclusion. Among the environmental factors, sunshine duration of the previous year’s autumn quartal was found to be the essential variable for the changes. We concluded that diversity increases in grazed communities of the Austrian Central Alps can be attributed to climate change. An indication of slightly reduced and altered weather effects under grazing exclusion was found.
As glaciers retreat, their forelands represent “natural laboratories” for the study of primary succession. This review describes how certain arthropods conquer pristine ground and develop food webs ...before the establishment of vascular plants. Based on soil samples, pitfall traps, fallout and sticky traps, gut content studies, and some unpublished data, we compare early arthropod succession on glacial forelands of northern Europe (Iceland, Norway including Svalbard, and Sweden) and of the Alps (Austria, Italy). While macroarthropod predators like ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones), and spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) have usually been considered as pioneers, assumed to feed on airborne prey, this review explains a different pattern. Here, we highlight that springtails (Collembola), probably feeding on biofilm made up of algae or cyanobacteria, are super-pioneers, even at high altitudes and under arctic conditions. We also point out that macroarthropod predators can use locally available prey, such as springtails or non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae). Pioneer arthropod communities vary under different biogeographical and climatic conditions. Two pioneer food webs, from northern Europe and the Alps, respectively, differed in structure and function. However, certain genera and orders were common to both. Generalists and specialists live together in a pioneer community. Cold-adapted specialists are threatened by glacier melting.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In glacier forelands spiders constitute a large proportion of the invertebrate community. Therefore, it is important to be able to determine the species that can be found in these areas. Linyphiid ...and theridiid spider identification is currently not possible in juvenile specimens using traditional morphological based methods, however, a large proportion of the population in these areas are usually juveniles. Molecular methods permit identification of species at different life stages, making juvenile identification possible. In this study we tested a molecular tool to identify the 10 most common species of Linyphiidae and Theridiidae found in three glacier foreland communities of the Austrian Alps. Two multiplex PCR systems were developed and over 90% of the 753 field-collected spiders were identified successfully. The species targeted were found to be common in all three valleys during the summer of 2010. A comparison between the molecular and morphological data showed that although there was a slight difference in the results, the overall outcome was the same independently of the identification method used. We believe the quick and reliable identification of the spiders via the multiplex PCR assays developed here will aid the study of these families in Alpine habitats.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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