Boulevardisierungstrend in deutschen Fernsehnachrichten

Changes in content and presentation styles of TV news are an indicator of the way the public today perceives the political process. ?Tabloidization‘, i. e. an adoption of presentation styles used by tabloid newspapers and magazines, has been introduced as an operational concept to measure these changes. In order to assess whether a long-term process of tabloidization occurred in German TV news, we content-analyzed the political coverage in the main news broadcasts of the four major TV channels four weeks before the German general elections in 1983, 1990, and 1998. The empirical basis of this analysis is 1,241 reports. We found strong tendencies towards tabloidization. They have occurred on all dimensions we investigated, i. e. in content (decrease of policy coverage), form (e. g. more personalization), and style (e. g. shorter sequences). As could be expected, indicators of tabloidization are generally stronger for the commercial than the public TV stations. However, one of the public stations (ZDF) has also shown a sharp increase of tabloidization features, in some cases even surpassing its two commercial competitors.     

Werbemitteldesign und Markenpolitik in Versicherungsunternehmen — eine explorative Studie

The design of written promotional material and branding strategies in insurance companies — an exploratory study As a result of numerous changes the insurance market is facing — the realisation of the single European market and modified legal regulations to name but a few - the branding of insurance products is gaining relative importance. The objective of this paper was to examine the branding strategies employed by selected Austrian insurance companies on the one hand as well as to give an overview of the design of written promotion material on the other hand. This was achieved by using content analysis as the method of choice as well as by testing four hypotheses. In total, six single-line and ten multi-line insurance companies were analyzed. The analysis was limited to enterprises operating in Austria.     

The Impact of EMU on Inflation Expectations

This paper analyses the impact of the monetary regime change from the Bundesbank to the ECB on inflation expectations. In the theoretical part, the Barro-Gordon model is used to derive the potential effect of a new central bank on inflation and inflation expectations. The econometric investigation is based on a flexible specification of expectation formation which allows both for rational and adaptive elements. The results indicate that the monetary regime change did not have a strong and lasting impact on the formation of inflation expectations and that the credibility of both central banks is not perceived to differ significantly anymore. JEL Classification Numbers: E 58, E 31     

Interpreting euro area inflation at high and low frequencies

Several authors have recently interpreted the European Central Bank's (ECB's) two-pillar framework as separate approaches to forecast and analyse inflation at different time horizons or frequency bands. The ECB has publicly supported this understanding of the framework. This paper presents further evidence on the behaviour of euro area inflation using band spectrum regressions, which allow for a natural definition of the short and long run in terms of specific frequency bands, and causality tests in the frequency domain. The main finding is that variations in inflation are well explained by low-frequency movements of money and real output growth and high-frequency fluctuations of the output gap.     

Who are Advisory Services Leaving Out? A Critical Reflection on ‘Hard to Reach’ Farmers

Although the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union has broadened its objectives to integrate social issues, several hard-to-reach groups of farmers and workers continue to be ignored by advisory services and associated policies. Connecting with these groups has a strong potential to increase the economic and social cohesion of European agricultures. We interviewed over 1,000 farmers across Europe and identified features of these groups that are often overlooked by advisory services. We critically reflected on the social cohorts omitted from advisory services and how they could be better reached; they include farm labourers, new entrants or ‘career changers’, and later adopters. We clarify the different types of advisors in the advisory landscape, distinguishing between those who are linked to or independent from sales of inputs or technologies. We make concrete recommendations about how to engage advisors with hard-to-reach groups, with approaches suited to different national contexts of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS); thus contributing to the ‘AKIS dimension of National Strategic Plans of the next Common Agricultural Policy, 2023–2027. We argue for the more effective use of advances in the social sciences through a better understanding of advice as social interaction which can bolster the inclusiveness of public policies.     

Applying cognitive adjustment theory to cross‐cultural training for global virtual teams

Global virtual teams are faced with the challenge of developing trust in a technology‐mediated context to overcome anxiety and uncertainty in their interactions. Research shows that adjustment is a function of an individual's ability to manage his or her anxiety and uncertainty in an unknown context (Gudykunst, 1995). We propose that the type of cross‐cultural training (CCT) received can influence cognitive adjustment in global virtual teams. Building on phenomenology and sense‐making theory, we argue that training needs to develop global virtual team members' capabilities in dealing with the unknown rather than providing ready‐made concepts of cultures. Managerial implications of our theoretical discussion of cognitive adjustment and how CCT influences it are discussed, as are directions for future research. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Using Intuition in Fuzzy Front‐End Decision‐Making: A Conceptual Framework

The goal of decision‐making during the execution of the fuzzy front end (FFE) is to develop a creative new product concept. Although intuitive decision‐making has been found to increase new product creativity, the theoretical knowledge base as to why and under which conditions intuition use during the process of generating a creative outcome is beneficial, is rather limited. Therefore, this study develops a conceptual framework theorizing why and under which conditions using intuition in FFE execution decision‐making may or may not be (as) beneficial for new product concept creativity. To develop this framework, the authors combine a creativity perspective of the FFE and a dual‐processing perspective of intuition. Interviews with eight FFE practitioners are used to support and illustrate the framework development. The theorizing leads the authors to postulate that intuition use may be beneficial to making generation and evaluation decisions during FFE execution because of the capabilities of the unconscious mind from which intuition results. However, the framework acknowledges that, due to the shortcomings of the unconscious mind, intuition may not be as beneficial to FFE decision‐making in some situations. The authors believe that this framework offers researchers a fertile area for further research and practitioners better insight into when intuition might be effective in FFE execution decision‐making.