Factors influencing community preferences and residential adaptation

The purpose of the study was to examine the factors that influence preretirees' community and residential preferences during retirement. The data were obtained from a mail survey in which the housing and locational retirement decisions of pre-retirees in four states were investigated. Path analysis results indicated that respondents who were Hearing retirement had already moved to a suitable home and were currently in age-mixed communities, and in close proximity to their children. This has implications for community and housing developers, gerontologists, and public policy makers to create a suitable environment for the elderly to age ‘in place’, and to provide them with adequate housing and community services.     

PURPOSE-BUILT RETIREMENT HOUSING FOR SALE

Sheltered housing for the elderly has traditionally been provided by local authorities and charitable organizations but it seems that they can no longer meet the housing needs of this group. In the last few decades, there has been a significant rise in home-ownership amongst retired people. Two features of this are important. First, those retired people who have been used to owning their own homes may be unwilling to consider somewhat institutional types of housing. Second, as a group, although eligible for specialist retirement housing provided by local authorities and charitable agencies, elderly owner-occupiers find it nearly impossible to qualify for such accommodation as they are not considered to be in need. Recently there has been a move by the private sector to provide purpose-built accommodation for sale to the elderly. How far the needs of the elderly can be met by this type of housing was investigated in two related studies. The first involved interviewing a sample of residents living in sheltered accommodation, while the second study surveyed respondents of retirement age at present living in ordinary housing. The investigation has shown that a considerable demand exists for purpose-built housing for sale to the elderly.     

The Potential for Consumer Segmentation in the Finnish Housing Market

This article examines whether cluster analysis can be used to identify groups of Finnish residents with similar housing preferences. Because homebuilders in Finland have been providing relatively homogeneous products to an increasingly diverse population, current housing may not represent the occupiers' preferences so a segmentation approach relying on socioeconomic characteristics and expressed preferences may not be sufficient. We use data collected via questionnaire in a principal component analysis followed by a hierarchical cluster analysis to determine whether different combinations of housing attributes are important to groups of residents. We can identify four clusters of housing residents based on important characteristics when looking for a house. The clusters describe Finnish people in different phases of the life cycle and with different preferences based on their recreational activities and financial expenditures. Mass customization of housing could be used to better appeal to these different clusters of consumers who share similar preferences, increasing consumer satisfaction and improving profitability.     

A quantitative analysis of authors,schools and themes in virtue ethics articles in business ethics and management journals (1980–2011)

Virtue ethics is generally recognized as one of the three major schools of ethics, but is often waylaid by utilitarianism and deontology in business and management literature. EBSCO and ABI databases were used to look for articles in the Journal of Citation Reports publications between 1980 and 2011 containing the keywords ‘virtue ethics’, ‘virtue theory’, or ‘virtuousness’ in the abstract and ‘business’ or ‘management’ in the text. The search was refined to draw lists of the most prolific authors, the most cited authors, the most cited articles, and the journals with the most virtue ethics publications. This information allows one to chart how virtue ethics articles have evolved through the decades and to establish ‘schools’ or clusters of authors as well as clusters of themes. The results of this quantitative analysis of authors, ‘schools’, themes, and publications provide a foundation for the future study of virtue ethics in business and management, identifying its achievements and potentials.     

Willingness to act and environmentally conscious consumer behaviour: can prosocial status perceptions help overcome the gap?

Green marketing has not shown expected results in recent years in terms of real changes in behaviours, products and market structures as had been anticipated. Consumer behaviour plays an important role in making these changes happen, and drivers of environmentally conscious consumer behaviour still need to be examined. Concepts of ‘concern’, ‘information about environmental impact’ and ‘willingness to act’ are seen as the key predictors of environmentally conscious consumer behaviours. Although green marketing has been able to address genuinely concerned consumers, additional insights are needed regarding how to appeal to more mainstream consumers. Thus, this paper proposes an extended model of environmentally conscious consumer behaviour in which the gap between willingness to act and actual environmentally friendly consumption is addressed by the moderating role of ‘prosocial status’ perceptions. In the model, ‘concern’ is positively related to ‘willingness’ and both ‘willingness’ and ‘information’ are positively related to ‘behaviour’, while ‘prosocial status’ perceptions moderate ‘behaviour’. The model was verified using a quota sample of 319 general population respondents from a Central European country. According to data, ‘prosocial status’ perceptions increase the positive association between ‘willingness’ and ‘behaviour’ and could be incorporated into green products and advertising to signal personality traits like kindness and intelligence. One possible implication for marketers is that women have a higher average representation in groups of people with high prosocial status perceptions.     

Impact of energy audits on home energy consumption

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of energy audits on home energy consumption rate, and to determine factors affecting participation in energy audit/weatherization programmes. Objectives included: (i) developing a linear model for predicting home energy consumption; (ii) examining the role of home energy audits in consumption rate; (iii) determining whether audit participation had increased over a two-year period; (iv) surveying reasons for non-participation, and (v) identifying sources of audit/conservation information which were most acceptable to consumers. The model expressed home energy consumption per square foot as a linear function of demographic, attitudinal and structural variables. The three most significant predictors in the model were adequacy of information, housing tenure and income. Eight out of 10 conservation measures studied were significantly more likely to exist in the homes of those who had had an audit. Three of these measures were also significant in the model. Study findings included a 7% increase in audit participation from 1981 to 1983. Lack of money and information were the two major factors inhibiting participation. Consumers indicated a need for conservation information from acceptable sources such as short courses or workshops, county extension agents, or skilled craftspeople.     

The process of female borrower discouragement

Recent entrepreneurial finance literature identifies ‘borrower discouragement’ as an important phenomenon explaining why female entrepreneurs hold less capital to grow their venture. But how do you become a discouraged borrower? We apply grounded theory to interviews with Tanzanian female entrepreneurs and model the process via which these entrepreneurs become discouraged. Our model suggests that entrepreneurs hold negative perceptions regarding loan application, allocation and payback procedures shaped by both internal and external information sources. We demonstrate that negative perceptions cause an unfavorable attitude towards formal loans which together with entrepreneurs' perceptions of societal norms lead to a low intention to apply.     

Income differences among elderly in Malaysia: a regional comparison

Malaysian economic development, formally launched in 1970 through a series of 5‐year development plans, has tremendously improved the quality of life of its citizens. Unfortunately, varying degrees of regional development that lead to regional imbalances produce differential impact on different sets of population in each region. This is especially true for the poverty‐prone groups, which include the elderly, women and children. This study attempts to assess regional differences (between West and East Malaysia) in the well‐being of the elderly as indicated by the income inequality. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to identify sources of elderly income, to determine the mean monthly income and to examine elderly income disparity in the three regions of Peninsular, Sabah, and Sarawak in Malaysia. A total of 2327 elderly respondents were randomly selected nationwide using the stratified random sampling technique. The study indicated that generally, the income of the elderly in Malaysia is very low as most of them had received no formal education or had only obtained primary school education. In terms of income disparity, the elderly income distribution in Sabah showed an interesting pattern, whereby a high percentage of the elderly was clustered in the bottom 20 and top 20 percentile. However, the distribution of the elderly in Peninsular Malaysia was clustered around the bottom 40 percentile, the middle 60 and the top 40 percentile.     

The perception of fire risk by older people and its impact on relevant fire safety education

Accidents due to ‘fire and flames’ are second only to “falls” as the most important cause of accidental death in the homes of elderly individuals throughout the United Kingdom. This study aims to ascertain whether older people are receiving fire accident advice appropriate to their needs. A questionnaire addressing the issues of risk perception, fire preventative action and access to fire safety information was distributed to 1100 randomly selected members of the ‘Thousand Elders’ (a nation-wide consumer group established by the Centre for Applied Gerontology at The University of Birmingham, comprising people above the age of 50 years). Eight hundred and four questionnaires were returned and were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Fire risk was perceived as far less of an immediate threat than the danger of a personal attack by an intruder in the home. Recognition of fire risk and the effectiveness of fire safety measures did not result directly in safety appliances being fitted. The majority of ‘Elders’ had received no fire-fighting training, yet more than half felt confident in tackling a small fire. Neither did experience of a fire in the home necessarily increase action towards safety precautions. The majority had not been exposed to a fire safety campaign in the past 12 months. On exposure to a campaign, the impact towards fire safety was positive. The educational process should aim to close the gap between the recognition of the need for fire safety precautions and the implementation of fire safety measures. The key to effective fire prevention amongst older people depends upon: Information, Training and Support, i.e., relevant information supported by practical help and subsequent practical training in-situ by trusted community figures.     

浅论中国房地产业的制度设计走向

自中国20世纪放弃了计划分房制度后,在商品房的道路上行进,房价一路狂飙。政府不断运用各项政策手段给房价降温。1998年的国务院第23号文件就曾明确提出,中国要建立以经济适用房为主的住房供应体系。论述了中国房地产市场的政策之路,并就中国房地产市场制度的走向提出了建议。     

The Role and Influence of External Information Sources in Alternative Housing Decisions by Elderly Consumers:

This paper explores the use and evaluation of external information sources in consumer decision-making. Information sources were evaluated by respondents according to six possible applications for the information-based on information use and hierarchical levels in the decision process. The research setting is nonprofit retirement apartments and the subjects are recent movers to those apartments. The empirical findings of this study have marketing implications for marketers of nonprofit retirement housing and social service agencies serving the elderly. They also suggest further research for other nonprofit marketers.     

Consumer understanding of food labels: toward a generic tool for identifying the average consumer

The ‘average consumer’ is referred to as a standard in regulatory contexts when attempts are made to benchmark how consumers are expected to reason while decoding food labels. An attempt is made to operationalize this hypothetical ‘average consumer’ by proposing a tool for measuring the level of informedness of an individual consumer against the national median at any time. Informedness, i.e. the individual consumer's ability to interpret correctly the meaning of the words and signs on a food label is isolated as one essential dimension for dividing consumers into three groups: less-informed, informed, and highly informed consumers. Consumer informedness is assessed using a 60-question test related to information found on a variety of Danish everyday food products and divided into factual questions and informedness about signpost labels. A test was made with 407 respondents who participated in four independent studies on fairness in consumer communication, and the average score for all was 57.6% of correct answers. A score of 64% and beyond would place a consumer in the upper quartile (the group of highly informed consumers), whereas a score of 52% or below would place the individual in the lower quartile (the group of less-informed consumers). Female respondents performed better than males on label recognition, and those around 40 years of age irrespective of gender performed best on factual knowledge, whereas those aged around 30 performed best on label recognition. It is foreseen that independent future studies of consumer behavior and decision making in relation to food products in different contexts could benefit from this type of benchmarking tool.     

Vulnerable older consumers: New persuasion knowledge achievement measure

This research describes a new persuasion knowledge measure for older consumers which can be applied for both diagnostic and preventive purposes. Persuasion knowledge refers to information, attitudes, beliefs and schemas guiding our behaviour in situations where persuasion is involved. Many older consumers belong to a specific, vulnerable group, who often fail to maintain their interest in persuasive situations, so the proposed measure could serve a better understanding of their behaviour. First, a new, situation‐based achievement measure, entitled ‘Persuasion Knowledge Achievement Measure’ (PKAM), was developed in university samples (N = 530) in several stages. Afterwards, the developed measure was adapted to older individuals, resulting in the Persuasion Knowledge Achievement Measure for Older People (PKAM‐OP). Following a pilot study with personally‐assisted data collection (N = 50), the examinees were reached through an elderly care network in a two‐stage procedure (N = 183, N = 116). The psychometric analyses of the data show a high level of reliability and validity for both tests. The results of the main research studies indicate that there are two subscales of the measure: ‘Agreeableness’ and ‘Persuasion Knowledge’. Based on the empirical data, the subscales provide reliable measures of features which guide behaviour in persuasive situations. In sum, PKAM‐OP can fulfil theoretical and practical needs in research and prevention interventions focusing on older consumers.     

Coordinating knowledge transfer: Global managers as higher-level intermediaries

In their day-to-day work, global managers exchange knowledge with individuals and teams scattered across the organizational network in order to make progress on current projects. Drawing on a case study of a global organization, we show that a core challenge of managerial work is associated with coordinating knowledge that is spatially dispersed and temporally fragmented. To address this challenge, we discuss the notion of ‘higher-level intermediary’ as a managerial role that provides coordination across functional and geographical boundaries by making knowledge sources available, connecting the parties to the transfer, and generating opportunities for knowledge exchange. These higher-level intermediaries act as ‘ambidextrous ties’ able to connect formal and informal knowledge search and transfer mechanisms.     

Visualizing financial success: planning is key

Recent economic troubles in the US and abroad highlight the importance of family financial capability, including an understanding of financial markets. Financial capability is the foundation for desired financial behaviours, such as saving, budgeting, using credit wisely and planning. Study participants, a subsample of respondents to a Turkish university financial literacy survey (n = 374), who reported uninterrupted income for a 3‐year period were grouped as ‘planners’ and ‘non‐planners’. These groupings allowed examination of the relationships between planning, financial management decisions, and differential outcomes in daily household financial well‐being. The practice of preferred financial management behaviours was predictive of debt. This research makes a unique contribution to the literature, demonstrating the importance of uninterrupted income over income amount in support of the planning process. Findings of this study have implications for professionals in the family and consumer sciences field and other practitioners assisting consumers with improving financial management outcomes.     

The importance of origin as a quality attribute for beef: results from a Scottish consumer survey

Perception of country of origin and purchasing habits for beef were examined for urban and rural Scottish consumers. Origin was identified as being as important as intrinsic quality cues of colour and leanness, with rural consumers giving more weight to origin than urban ones. Most consumers interpreted ‘Scotch Beef’ and ‘British Meat’ label logos as evidence that the beef animals were ‘born, raised and slaughtered in Scotland or Britain’ respectively. The logos were taken as indicators of quality and safety. Both urban and rural respondents had higher agreement levels with Scotch beef as a safer, higher quality and more expensive commodity than British meat. Rural consumers made more use of butcher shops for purchase, but both groups sought butcher beef for quality reasons and supermarket sources because of convenience.     

Exploring word‐of‐mouth influences on travel decisions: friends and relatives vs. other travellers

Travel research consistently shows the importance of word‐of‐mouth (WOM) information sources in the travel decision‐making process. Friends and relatives have been identified as organic image‐formation agents, and it has been emphasized that this WOM information is one of the most relied‐upon sources of information for destination selection. While there has been recognition of the importance of WOM information sources on consumer behaviour in tourism, little has been performed to understand more specifically how and what behaviour is influenced. This study examined the differing influences of friends and relatives vs. other travellers on the travel choices and behaviours of 412 visitors to the North Queensland Region in Australia. More specifically, the present study compared the following four groups of respondents: those who indicated that they obtained travel information from friends/relatives and other travellers (n = 70); those who obtained information from friends/relatives only (n = 121); those who obtained information from other travellers only (n = 105); and those who obtained information from neither (i.e. no WOM) (n = 116). The results indicated that there were significant differences across the four groups with respect to demographic characteristics, other information sources used, accommodation and transportation used, and travel activities in the destination. However, the groups did not differ in their image of the destination.     

Are Farmers' Market Shoppers Different From Cross-Shoppers? The Case of Hawaiian Avocado Purchasers

Small- and medium-size growers use direct marketing and farmers’ markets to access customers and avoid supply chain intermediaries that increase costs of getting products to consumers. This study examined consumers’ use of agricultural product information sources and their shopping outlet patronage preferences for one type of locally grown produce: avocados.

Two farmers’ market segments were identified: 1) shops only farmers’ markets and 2) cross-shops grocery stores. Product information came from a variety of sources: media, retailers, and organizations. “Buy Local” or “product origin” were considered in produce shopping decisions. One dimension, “Buy Local,” was significant in differentiating farmers’ market segments.     

我国城镇住房保障制度的发展历程及完善

住房不仅是发展资料和享受资料,同时还是重要的生存资料。为弱势群体提供适当住房,解决他们的居住问题,是住房保障制度的基本目标。本文在对我国城镇住房保障制度的发展历程系统分析的基础上,指出我国城镇住房保障制度存在的主要问题,并提出相应对策,以期构建更为科学、高效、公平的住房保障制度,从而解决中低收入居民的住房问题,实现社会的和谐发展。     

Exploring private consumers’ willingness to adopt Smart Grid technology

The goal of radically increasing the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources puts the current electrical grid under pressure and one of the solutions is to turn the grid into a ‘Smart Grid’. One of the key elements of the Smart Grid is that electricity consumers make some of their consumption available as flexible capacity to balance the grid. Consumers’ flexible capacity is only available to the grid if the consumers adopt Smart Grid technology (SGT) that establishes the link between the electric system and the consumer. This technology is new to private consumers and using it involves behavioural changes. There is a need to get more insight into who are willing to adopt SGT and why. This study draws on innovation adoption theory as a framework for understanding consumer adoption of this new technology. We explore whether consumers who have already adopted other types of new energy technology, such as a geothermal heat pump, are more favourably disposed towards SGT than other consumers. Also, we explore how consumers who have signed up to let their heat pump be used as flexible capacity in a test trial differ from other heat pump owners, if at all. We used semi‐structured interviews with household members as well as a questionnaire to explore differences between three groups: households with (1) a heat pump with SGT (n = 11), (2) a heat pump‐only (n = 7), or (3) an oil‐fired boiler (n = 6). We find that the families in the three groups perceive the technology characteristics differently and those who have trial experience with SGT are most in favour of the technology.