Consumer involvement in research using oral history: ‘What are people's experiences of health and well‐being in Halton?’

The purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative oral history case study that involved consumers in research and followed a collaborative approach in the north‐west of England. This study had two aims: (1) to increase local voluntary groups research capacity through active involvement in research; and (2) to explore the community's historical perceptions of health and well‐being. The research team included four lay researchers from local voluntary groups supported by an academic researcher. Data collection used semi‐structured interviews based on oral history life stories that focused on health and well‐being. Thematic data analysis and mind maps were used to create a collective narrative. This paper will provide a brief synopsis of the findings from the main themes of health and well‐being, and reflect on the process of consumer involvement in research using oral history. Outputs have included dissemination at a local and national level, increased knowledge and confidence in the research process, and involvement in other related initiatives, such as Local Involvement Networks, partnership working with local libraries and collaboration with the regional archivist.     

A model and measure for quality service user involvement in health research

In the UK, researchers across the health professions are increasingly being encouraged by policymakers and research commissioners to ‘involve’ service users in research. A recent review shows there is some evidence that involving patients, carers, relatives, social or community groups directly and actively as part of the research process can improve the conduct of research studies and the impact of the findings. Yet, little is known about how involvement is played out within research studies and there is a need for more critical and consistent assessment of what constitutes quality involvement. The overall purpose of this paper is to support learning about quality service user involvement in health care research. The aim is to provide service users and researchers with a structured and consistent way to reflect and report on their experiences. A range of philosophical and social theories of power and empowerment were reviewed and synthesized to create a model of quality involvement. The analysis encompassed both service user factors (what a person feels able to do, whether they feel their potential is being fulfilled and their sense of being valued) alongside research factors (research relationships, ways of doing research, research structures). A model is presented (Quality Involvement Framework), which contributes theoretically informed perspectives about the meaning and assessment of quality service user involvement in research. The model is developed as a practical measure (a Quality Involvement Questionnaire) for researchers and service users to be more reflective about the constraints and possibilities of involvement. The tools presented here could help research teams to examine personal factors and the research contexts that influence the nature and quality of service user involvement in research. They may also help to identify reoccurring issues about quality which could inform future policy, practice and research.     

Determinants of Community‐Based Sponsorship Impact on Self‐Congruity

Sponsors increasingly shift from large professional to community‐based properties, as these can deliver an engaged audience and enable them to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility (CSR). This research comprises two studies and shows that community‐based sponsorship may improve CSR image and, in turn, self‐congruity, a key determinant of consumer behavior. Study 1 investigates perceived sponsor–club fit, confirming attitude and corporate positioning similarity as relevant predictors. Importantly, CSR image similarity does not impact fit, suggesting sponsorship opportunities for organizations independent of their initial CSR image. Study 2 shows perceived sponsor CSR image to mediate the relationship between the perceptions of a community‐based property's CSR image and consumers' self‐congruity with the sponsor. While perceived sponsor–club fit and sponsorship awareness moderate the relationship between property and sponsor CSR image, attitudes toward CSR moderate the association between sponsor CSR and self‐congruity. The paper concludes with implications and future research directions.     

Consumer involvement in health research: a UK scoping and survey

Consumer involvement or patient and public involvement (PPI) in health research is a UK policy imperative and a prerequisite for many funders. PPI in research is defined as research carried out with or being carried out by the public (or service users), rather than research on patients and public as subjects or participants. Despite the clear policy driver, there is relatively little empirical evidence on the extent, processes and impact of user involvement in research. This paper aims to add to the international evidence base on PPI in research by providing a key overview of current trends and impacts. In order to understand the current extent and variation of PPI in research, a scoping exercise and survey were carried out on selected UK studies. Six research topic areas (cystic fibrosis, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and public health) were selected to ensure a range of designs, study populations and histories of PPI in research. A total of 838 studies (non‐commercial studies and not older than 2 years) were contacted. The response rate for the scoping was 38% and the survey 28%. In the scoping, 51% of studies had some evidence of PPI and in the survey 79%. The most common PPI activity was steering committee membership and reviewing patient information leaflets. There appeared to be some blurred roles with patients participating as research subjects as well as carrying out patient involvement roles. A major finding was the limited amount of available information about PPI in publicly accessible research documents. We suggest that the invisibility of this type of involvement and the lack of routinely collected information about PPI results in a lack of shared understanding of what optimal PPI in a study should look like, with important implications for practice. Furthermore, without a framework to review PPI it is difficult to know if different approaches to PPI have a different impact on key outcomes of the research.     

Making patient medication safer for all: an action research approach

Complexity in medication arrangements can lead to risks for older people and their carers. These risks need to be managed through a system without any single hierarchical command and control structure. The paper describes the processes by which an action research project created a network organization for the safer consumption of medication in the community. Service redesign outcomes are recorded. The applicability of the approach to other complex products‐in‐use is noted.     

Measuring something real and useful in consumer involvement in health and social care research

Actively involving service users, patients and carers in the creation and development of health research in the UK has recently come under pressure to articulate why involvement is a good use of resources. This has led to a growing interest in creating ways to measure the impact of involving patients, service users and carers in research. However, there is a concern that fundamentally important issues about why we should meaningfully involve service users, patients and carers are missing from the current measurement discourses and activities undertaken in relation to measurement. This paper argues three distinct points, and is based on the experience of the authors working with Folk.us as well as other fields of involvement. Firstly, there should be an open and honest debate about what is meant by the need to measure and assess the effects of involving people in research, addressing issues such as who benefits from the measurement and assessment and why the involvement is being done. Secondly, if at the conclusion of the debate it is deemed necessary to measure and assess, there must be a full and frank discussion about what criteria are appropriate for the proper reporting of involvement activities. This discussion would need to include the less obvious activities that are crucial to active involvement, such as administrative tasks, and where such activities would sit within these criteria. Thirdly, we will consider when such criteria should be applied, at the beginning or end of projects and, indeed, whether one can categorize the ‘beginning’ or ‘end’ of involvement.     

Productivity and impact in advertising research since the millennium: a profiling and investigation of drivers of impact

What does it take to become a top advertising scholar in productivity? What drives impact in advertising research? This article sets out to answer these two questions by assessing the productivity and impact among scholars and their work in advertising since the millennium. As a two-part study, we begin by benchmarking and profiling the top 1% scholars in the field based on their research publications in the three top advertising journals (Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, and International Journal of Advertising). Next, we employ a three-perspective conceptual model to identify the salient drivers of impact in advertising research. By content analyzing 1443 articles in the three journals published between 2000 and 2014, we show that certain universalistic and particularistic factors (to a lesser extent) significantly predict paper citations. Our findings reveal how advertising academia is advancing and showing signs of internationalization in the new millennium, which provides implications for the field's advancement and scholarship.     

Consumers as researchers – innovative experiences in UK National Health Service Research

Consumer involvement is an established priority in UK health‐ and social‐care service development and research. To date, little has been published describing the process of consumer involvement and assessing ‘consumers’ contributions to research. This paper provides a practical account of the effective incorporation of consumers into a research team, and outlines the extent to which they can enhance the research cycle; from project development and conduct, through data analysis and interpretation, to dissemination. Salient points are illustrated using the example of their collaboration in a research project. Of particular note were consumers' contributions to the development of an ethically enhanced, more robust project design, and enriched data interpretation, which may not have resulted had consumers not been an integral part of the research team.     

Consumers' intentions to remain loyal to online reputation systems

The implications of recent consumer research for information system usage in the e‐marketplace are still poorly understood. However, understanding consumers' intentions to continue to use these systems remains a priority in practical marketing management, as leading marketplaces such as Amazon.com have widely embraced online reputation systems as a useful tactic in online marketing. The re‐ported study proposes an approach that differs from past research on this theme by incorporating Foxall's style/involvement model, which relates innovative behavior to cognitive style and involve‐ment in the product area. Based on a sample of 387 buyers from a top e‐marketplace in Taiwan, the findings indicate that consumers' underlying style/involvement levels significantly shape their continuance use intentions toward online reputation systems. The paper argues that consumers' cognitive styles and involvement levels should be adopted by researchers as major influences on system users' decision making in virtual purchase environments. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Choice,diversity and ‘false consciousness’ in women's careers

The central theme of this paper is that contemporary literature concerning women's careers is based on assumptions held by researchers and not actually on views held by women themselves. Many feminist researchers are guilty of assuming ‘false consciousness’ on the part of their subjects by explaining these women as being victims of gender or patriarchal systems instead of making a mindful decision founded on choice. The empirical work draws on in‐depth interviews with 39 women architects. Of the 39 women interviewed, 20 had adopted alternative ways of working in the sense that they had rejected the conventional career within an organization. Their reasons for this were diverse and ranged from wanting to combine child or elder care with work; involvement in local politics; wanting time for further study or sporting activities; as well as just not wanting to work full‐time. In short, this research demonstrates that work is not always a central interest in the lives of individuals and supports Hakim's view of heterogeneity among women.     

Envisioning a community‐centric approach to impact assessments in subsistence marketplaces

What does a community‐centric approach to impact assessment look like? That is the central question addressed in this article. Our community‐centric perspective provides an alternative to discipline‐centric approaches to impact assessment that emphasize specific methodological gold‐standards (e.g., randomized controlled trials [RCTs] in development economics). Disciplinary approaches to impact assessment owe their principal allegiance to the discipline's knowledge‐creation norms. Consequently, the concerns, interests, and voices of community members are not fully captured in the impact assessment process. In this article, we flip the conventional perspective to offer a community‐centric view of impact assessment that places the concerns, interests and voices of community members front and center. We present the case for why we need a community‐centric approach to impact assessment and clarify its axiological content, theoretical perspective, and methodological stance. Specifically, we advocate for a relational axiology, a system‐theoretic perspective, and a phenomenological methodology.     

Nine issues for Internet-based survey research in service industries

Internet-based surveys have recently become a popular means of data collection among researchers in the service industries. However, there has been little discussion regarding the validation of Internet-based surveys in this services discipline. From the perspective of positivist and quantitative research, failure to organise a scientific and rigorous research design will damage the validity, reliability, and generalisability of a study's findings and, in turn, its contributions. This paper identifies nine key issues from theoretical discussions and accordingly examines the Internet-based survey studies published in The Service Industries Journal between 2001 and 2008 to demonstrate the current status of the Internet-based survey development in this field. Further, an empirical study with a carefully designed methodology is presented to serve as a useful guide in planning and executing Internet-based surveys.     

Identifying trainers' knowledge of training transfer research findings – closing the gap between research and practice

Training professionals were surveyed concerning their knowledge of transfer of training research. Survey items were developed from an integrative literature review based on empirical findings of factors that directly or indirectly (through learning) influence training transfer. Survey results suggest that training professionals are in agreement with empirical transfer findings in the areas of training design and the work environment, but differ in their agreement of how individual differences impact transfer success and of relevant transfer evaluation findings. Training professionals were more familiar with academic transfer research when they occupied higher job positions within their organization, held a training certification and had a college degree. The results of our study and the implications for addressing the research‐to‐practice gap among training professionals are also discussed.     

Evaluating the impact of service user involvement on research: a prospective case study

As service user involvement in health and social care research has become more firmly embedded in health policies, both in the UK and internationally, there is increasing interest in evaluating its potential benefits and outcomes. Impact studies have highlighted a range of different types of service user involvement, using diverse research methods, within various research topics and involving different stakeholders. Potential benefits to research, researchers and the service users actively involved in research have been identified, along with the possibility of some negative consequences. Many impact studies have been criticized for being based on informal retrospective accounts of researchers and service users working together. Few have been underpinned by conceptual models, and there is a paucity of detailed accounts of the process of involvement that would enable replication. This paper reports an account of a prospective, qualitative exploration of service user involvement within a study, where the aims of the evaluation were agreed beforehand. Reflective discussions about the process and progress of service user involvement at different stages of the study were recorded, transcribed and analysed. The qualitative analysis identified perceived benefits to research, researchers and service user researchers that endorsed previous findings. The analysis also highlighted subjective and interpersonal aspects of service user involvement that have seldom been reported. This evaluation demonstrates the benefits of allowing time for structured reflection and adds to the understanding of the process and meaning of service user involvement in research.     

Developing the evidence base of patient and public involvement in health and social care research: the case for measuring impact

While patient and public involvement (PPI) in health and social care research has progressed successfully in the last decade, a range of difficulties with the evidence base exist, including poor understanding of the concept of impact, limited theorization and an absence of quantitative impact measurement. In this paper, we argue that a paradigm change towards robust measurement of the impact of involvement in research is needed to complement qualitative explorations. We argue that service users should be collaboratively involved in the conceptualization, theorization and development of instruments to measure PPI impact. We consider the key advantages measurement would bring in strengthening the PPI evidence base through a greater understanding of what works, for whom, in what circumstances and why.     

Food retailers' perceptions of older consumers in Northern Ireland

Demographic changes' occurring in developed countries has meant that older consumers are becoming an increasingly important consumer segment that retailers need to pay particular attention to. It is essential that their specific needs within the food and other service sectors are met, as food plays an important role in their social well‐being. Very little research has focused upon the extent to which retailers meet their demands and particular needs. The aim of this study, as part of a wider study on older consumers, is to address this lack of information by examining the level of awareness held by food retail management as to the needs of older consumers (60+ years old) and the problems that they encounter while shopping. Qualitative data were collected using face‐to‐face interviews with retail managers (n = 5) from food retailers in Northern Ireland. These were analysed according to Gillham's content analysis guide. Food retailers stated they were aware of the issues older consumers face and recognize their importance as a growing consumer segment; however, there would appear to be relatively little actual consideration/evidence of them meeting their needs. All interviewees expressed an interest in improving the food shopping experiences of older consumers, and were keen to make an increased effort towards this segment of the population, but these were often not put into practice. In order to overcome the problems faced by older consumers and strengthen the food shopping experience for this age group, it is suggested that retail management make practical changes to improve in‐store facilities, increase affordability of food products and home delivery services, and enhance customer communication.     

Perceptions of older consumers regarding food packaging as a prerequisite for its improvement: A case study of Polish market

In many societies, the scale of demographic change associated with increased longevity has the potential to influence the market for consumer goods. As a result, continuous improvement in packaging design that takes into account the needs of older people should become an important challenge for both packaging producers and product manufacturers. Due to the fact that there is limited research concerning the design of food packaging for older people, the aim of the study was to identify the expectations of this group of consumers in this respect. Milk packaging was selected as a model subject of study. Factors influencing older consumers and their buying patterns when purchasing milk have been thoroughly examined. The research was conducted among people over the age of 60 with the use of three methods: a questionnaire (600 subjects), an in‐depth interview (60 subjects) and eye tracking (30 subjects). The results of the study show that older consumers have specific preferences regarding packaging type and design. When considering milk packaging, for example, they prefer glass bottles, simple graphics and font and subdued colours. They most frequently look for information concerning the product's expiration date, its producer's name and its composition. Eye tracking revealed that the older the consumers are, the more problems with finding expiration date they have. The time required to find such information, however, strongly depends on where exactly the expiration date is printed on the packaging. The preferred place in this case is the top of the bottle. Older consumers identify product's brand with the name of the producer. Moreover, the absence of the term ‘ingredients’: on the milk packaging oftentimes causes confusion among older people, who are concerned about potential food additive content.     

Complex Samples and Regression‐Based Inference: Considerations for Consumer Researchers

This article demonstrates that researchers who treat data collected via complex sampling procedures as if they were collected via simple random sample (SRS) may draw improper inferences when estimating regression models. Using complex sample data from the 2004 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) two models—one ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and one logistic regression—were estimated using three methods: SRS with and without population weights, Taylor series linearization, and Fay's Balanced Repeated Replication (BRR). The results of the alternative models demonstrate that depending on the variables of interest, authors who fail to incorporate sample design information or fail to consider the effects of weighting may draw improper inferences from their regression models. Reasons why researchers continue to neglect complex sample‐based variance are proposed and discussed, and example SAS and Stata code is offered to encourage adoption by the consumer research community.     

Community Social Responsibility and Its Consequences for Family Business Performance*

Family‐centered businesses may have unique perspectives of socially responsible behavior due to family involvement and ties to the community. This research explored the antecedents and consequences of community social responsibility (CSR) for family firms operating in small and rural markets. Using a national sample from the 2000 wave of the National Family Business Survey (NFBS), researchers profiled family business operators' (n = 221) to determine if their CSR orientation contributed to family business performance. Enlightened self interest and social capital perspectives provide a framework for elaborating the role of CSR in sustaining family businesses in changing small communities. Results indicate that three dimensions, commitment to the community, community support, and sense of community, account for 43 percent of the variation in family business operators' CSR. Size of the business was significantly related to family firms' ability to give and receive community support. Further, commitment to the community was found to significantly explain perceived family business performance while community support explained financial performance. Findings suggest that socially responsible business behaviors can indeed contribute to the sustainability of family businesses in small rural communities.     

Determinants of healthy eating: a cross‐national study on motives and barriers

The paper investigates the impact of motives and barriers to healthy eating on individuals' healthy eating intention and behaviour using a cross‐national design. Data were collected from the UK and the Czech Republic via a self‐completion questionnaire. Findings highlight the significance of intrinsic motives and psychological barriers in predicting both intention and healthy eating behaviour for both UK and Czech consumers, albeit their weight as well as the variance captured by these factors differs across the two national cultures. Findings also indicate that physical barriers are in fact unimportant when it comes to adopting a healthy eating diet. These findings are discussed in the light of previous research, while their implications for policy makers and researchers are highlighted.