Identification incubators: reflexivity in consumer book clubs

ABSTRACT

We examine how consumers engage in reflexivity related to their ongoing process of identification within book clubs. The ongoing nature of identification processes, coupled with the conditions associated with liquid modernity, results in a cycle of self-reflexive doubt where consumers grapple with existential questions as they reflect on their lives. Through an examination of book clubs, we show that consumers engage in reflexive practices within the day-to-day setting of a book club. To do this, consumers engineer their clubs into identification incubators – controlled environments in which consumers engage in reflexivity related to their identification processes. We show that by turning book clubs into incubators, consumers are able to capitalize on two reflexive resources – books and other club members – to thoughtfully reflect on their lives. We note, however, that maintaining the incubator is often stressful for consumers and can lead to tensions between club members.     

Using IT in work at home: taking a closer look at IT use in home-located production

Canadian survey data indicate that information technology (IT) use is generally associated with increased odds of participation in home-located production (HLP), but this relationship is particularly strong for employees in routine (versus knowledge) occupations. Where IT use and HLP are associated with the odds of experiencing time-related work stress, it is in the direction of increasing the odds.     

Improving consumption measurement and other survey data through CAPI: Evidence from a randomized experiment

This paper reports on a randomized survey experiment among 1840 households, designed to compare pen-and-paper interviewing (PAPI) to computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). We find that PAPI data contain a large number of errors, which can be avoided in CAPI. Error counts are not randomly distributed across the sample, but are correlated with household characteristics, potentially introducing sample bias if dubious observations need to be dropped. We demonstrate a tendency for the spread of total measured consumption to be higher on paper compared to CAPI, translating into significantly higher measured inequality. Investigating further the nature of PAPI's measurement error for consumption, we fail to reject the hypothesis that it is classical: it attenuates the coefficient on consumption when used as explanatory variable and we find no evidence of bias when consumption is used as dependent variable. Finally, CAPI and PAPI are compared in terms of interview length, costs and respondents' perceptions.     

Searching hospital discharge records for snow sport injury: no easy run?

When using hospital discharge data to shape sports injury prevention policy, it is important to correctly identify cases. The objectives of this study were to examine the ease with which snow-skiing and snowboarding injury cases could be identified from national hospital discharge data and to assess the suitability of the information obtained for shaping policy. Hospital discharges for 2000-2004 were linked to compensated claims and searched sequentially using coded and narrative information. One thousand three hundred seventy-six eligible cases were identified, with 717 classified as snowboarding and 659 as snow-skiing. For the most part, cases could not be identified and distinguished using simple searches of coded data; keyword searches of narratives played a key role in case identification but not in describing the mechanism of injury. Identification and characterisation of snow sport injury from in-patient discharge records is problematic due to inadequacies in the coding systems and/or their implementation. Narrative reporting could be improved.     

Discipline‐Informed Approaches to Water Accounting

Recent decades have witnessed demands for greater transparency and more clearly defined lines of responsibility and accountability in the management of natural resources. Consequently, various approaches to recording and reporting data relating to such resources have emerged, particularly in relation to water. We explore international water accounting developments where different water accounting systems are being developed in different settings, with different origins, and influenced by different disciplines. Australia is developing a general‐purpose water accounting system with its genealogy in financial reporting. We explore its development and implications for regulators and professionals in accounting and water‐related business. We also contemplate the potential for a global water accounting system.     

Socioeconomic Effects of Reducing Household Carbon Footprints Through Meat Consumption Taxes

Beef and sheep products represent the largest emitters of greenhouse gases within the meat group. One way of encouraging Scottish households to substitute purchasing lower carbon footprint meat products such as chicken is through a carbon consumption tax. In this article, the effects of such a tax were studied using a dynamic per capita error correction version of the almost ideal demand system (AIDS). The data used in the analysis were from a Scottish household panel dataset for the years 2006–2011, which allowed disaggregation by three socioeconomic groups. The results suggest that the net application of meat taxes is likely to reduce demand for beef and sheep products irrespective of socioeconomic group. Application of all meat carbon consumption taxes has the potential to reduce household demand for meat products, resulting in a likely 10.5% reduction in Scottish meat emissions.     

Does a goodwill impairment regime better reflect the underlying economic attributes of goodwill?

IFRS adoption transformed the accounting treatment for goodwill in many countries. Instead of amortizing goodwill, firms now test for its impairment and write off impairment losses against income. Accounting standard‐setting bodies claim that an impairment regime better reflects the underlying economic value of goodwill than systematic amortization. We investigate this claim by comparing the association between goodwill accounting charges against income and firms’ economic investment opportunities in amortization and impairment regimes. We find that the association between firms’ goodwill charges against income and the firms’ investment opportunities is stronger during the IFRS regime than the AGAAP regime. This indicates that, as claimed, impairment charges better reflect the underlying economic attributes of goodwill than do amortization charges.     

Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards: Impact on the Value Relevance of Intangible Assets

We examine whether the value relevance of reported intangibles differs between financial reporting regimes pre- and post-adoption of Australian Equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS) and Australian Accounting Standards (AGAAP) respectively. Using AIFRS and AGAAP measures of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets for the same financial year and testing their association with share prices, we find evidence that AIFRS generally convey incremental useful information for investors about goodwill. For aggregated identifiable intangible assets there is no evidence that AIFRS conveys information beyond that in AGAAP. In contrast, we find evidence that AGAAP provides incremental information for investors in relation to identifiable intangibles, but not goodwill .