Redefining Boundaries in Families through Social Networking Leisure

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence the use of social networking sites (SNS) for leisure has on boundaries between families and the outside world, as well as boundaries between family members. The family systems theory and the concept of boundaries served as a basis for this study. Seven families (22 individual family members) took part in the study. Group and individual interviews were conducted for this study. The data supported previous research claiming that connection with the outside world was among the major reasons for using SNS. The findings also suggested that families tried to preserve clear boundaries between themselves and the outside world by controlling who can access their accounts, what information can be shared and what is appropriate time to use SNS. The findings also suggested that the boundaries between family members are constantly being redefined to meet the changing realities of technological world.     

Immigrants' Adaptation and Interracial/Interethnic Interactions in Natural Environments

ABSTRACT

This study examined the role of leisure in natural environments in immigrants' adaptation, with a particular emphasis on facilitating interracial/interethnic interactions. Berry's adaptation framework was used as a theoretical framework. The project used in-depth individual interviews with 70 immigrants from China, Latin America, Morocco, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam residing in the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland. The findings showed that recreation in natural environments promoted immigrants' psychological adaptation by helping to improve psychological and emotional well-being, develop feelings of attachment, strengthen social ties, and build memories and family traditions. The sociocultural adaptation was increased when immigrants learned about the culture of the host countries. The natural environments were not particularly conducive to establishing interactions with strangers but were convenient settings for interacting with families and members of the ethnic community.     

The choice between an annuity and a lump sum: Results from Swiss pension funds

This paper uses unique micro data from Swiss employer-based pension plans to study the annuitization decision at retirement. The administrative nature of our data, though limited with respect to individual background characteristics, allows us to analyze real choices over large retirement balances, rather than subjectively reported intentions to annuitize. We find a strong and robust impact of a utility-based measure of the annuity's value (computed within a life-cycle framework) on individual annuitization rates. Low accumulation of retirement assets is strongly associated with the choice of the lump sum, presumably due to the availability of means-tested social assistance. The sponsor's default option, in most cases the annuity, is also found to be highly influential in the decision to annuitize.     

Dimensional analysis of schoolchildren's food label comprehension: a pilot study

This article discusses some weaknesses in current research into young consumers’ abilities to comprehend and successfully manipulate food label information and describes the development of a research project through to an analysis of the pilot phase. The research programme identifies a method of measuring the effectiveness of state education in enabling the next generation of consumers to make informed food choices through the provision of appropriate tools and skills, both of which are necessary to fully understand a label's informational elements within a marketing context. The article also discusses the appropriateness of a quantitative questionnaire to measure the abilities and skills of individuals through the identification of some key comprehension dimensions required by modern food consumers. Finally, the article questions the appropriateness of the context in which information is provided to food consumers. Through a continuing programme of research, it is envisaged that a more appropriate context for certain elements important in the choice of a diet that is relevant to an individual's lifestyle may be proposed.     

Measuring Changes in Poverty: A Methodological Case Study of Indonesia during an Adjustment Period

Analysis of the effects of policy changes on the poor is oftenhindered by the difficulties inherent in measuring poverty andcomparing levels of poverty before and after policy changes.This article outlines two techniques which can overcome manyof these measurement problems: stochastic dominance conditions,which can facilitate a robust poverty ranking of distributionsof living standards; and a decomposable poverty index, whichallows measured changes in aggregate poverty to be disaggregatedinto their various components, such as the changes among populationsubgroups, and growth and redistributive components. These techniquescan be applied to a wide range of indicators of economic well-beingand poverty lines, and to assumptions about the poor. The approachesare illustrated using household survey data from Indonesia beforeand after external shocks and the subsequent structural adjustmentprogram in the mid-1980s. The study finds that favorable initialconditions and a pro-poor pattern of growth enabled Indonesiato maintain its momentum in poverty alleviation during the period.     

CAP and Advisory Services: From Farm Advisory Systems to Innovation Support

Farm advisory services have become an important topic in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU). The aim of this article is to draw lessons from the implementation of the regulation and measures of the current 2014–2022 CAP in knowledge transfer and advisory services to contribute to debates about the future of farm advisory policies. Findings are based on two studies commissioned by the European Commission: an evaluation study implemented by a consortium of consultancies and researchers and a comparative analysis implemented in the frame of the H2020 research project AgriLink. The article first provides a historical perspective of the ‘knowledge and advice’ dimension of the CAP since 2007. We show a gradual transition towards greater flexibility of measures supporting innovation and knowledge flows. The professional status of farm advisors across European countries was more strongly acknowledged, offering new life-long training opportunities to advisors. However, the implementation of CAP’s advisory measures remains complex. As a result, the effects of these measures have been rather limited, with only few farmers reached overall. Fostering an inclusiveness of these measures remains an ongoing challenge for policymakers.     

New insights into mutual fund brokerage commissions

Using data collected from equity mutual fund reports filed by single-fund registrants to the Securities and Exchange Commission, I study the determinants of brokerage commissions paid by fund managers when they buy or sell securities and investigate the role these commissions play in fund performance. Consistent with related studies, my results from cross-sectional analyses reveal that higher portfolio turnover funds are associated with higher commissions and larger funds incur lower commissions, as well as the positive relation between expense ratios and commissions. This positive relation is puzzling as most commissions include “soft dollars” for payments of products and services that should be already covered by the costs reported under expense ratios. However, once I take into account unobservable fund heterogeneity, I find that higher expense ratio funds do not necessarily pay higher commissions. Further, controlling for whether a fund increased commission payments as the result of flow-induced trading, I show that the underperformance related to brokerage commissions documented in the literature is attributable (at least partly) to higher level of fund flows.     

Executive career success in search-firm-mediated moves across employers

This paper integrates the economic and sociological literatures on market intermediaries to examine the ways in which a labor market intermediary, executive search firms, alter career outcomes for executives who move across organizations. Analyses of the proprietary dataset of a large multinational executive search firm show that executives whose moves are mediated by the search firm are more likely to obtain a promotion or move to a larger and more reputable new employer than those who move without such mediation, but they are not more likely to move to a developmental assignment: one in a new function or in a new industry. The results suggest that the search firm constrains executives' options by matching their existing knowledge and skills with open positions.     

Career advancement in large organizations in Europe and the United States: do international assignments add value?

We look at the relationship between the number of assignments, the length of international assignment experience, the type of employer commissioning the international assignment, the individual's career stage at the first assignment, and career advancement: the time that the executives took to be appointed to the CEO position from the start of their career. Our sample of 1001 chief executives, based in 23 countries and affiliated with the 500 largest corporations in Europe and the 500 largest in the United States, allows us to examine important individual- and organization-level contingencies that affect the relationship between international assignment experience and career advancement. We find that international experience slows the executives' ascent to the top, longer assignments and a larger number of assignments being detrimental to their speed of ascent to top corporate positions. Further, international assignments at corporations other than the CEOs' current employer and assignments taken at later stages of executives' careers damage career advancement.