Credibility lost: attempting to reclaim an expert identity in an HR professional context

Professional insecurity is a long‐standing concern within HR, with claims to expertise seen as critical to credibility. Considering HR as an epistemic community and drawing on the identity work literature, we examine an identity threat to, and subsequent response by, a training and development (T&D) team. Based on ethnographic exposure to their practice, we explore how team members experience the threat and follow their attempts to re‐establish their position in the local epistemic community, the HR department. We examine both individual and collective identity work, considering how both the identity threat and subsequent responses are embedded within T&D and HR practice more broadly. Through this analysis, we offer academic insight on the nature of HR practice and the construction of claims to expertise.     

Pricing Term Insurance in the Presence of a Family History of Breast or Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

We estimate the increased mortality and term life insurance costs for women who have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Using data from the medical literature on age-specific and family history-specific incidence rates, we develop double-decrement models to evaluate the actuarial impact of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in the family. We also calculate the increased mortality and term insurance costs for women who test positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. We find that the type of affected relative and her age at onset of the disease are key underwriting factors. We find substantial mortality increases (up to 100%) for women with two relatives with cancer and women with a first-degree relative who developed cancer at an early age. Mortality increases for women with the BRCA gene mutation reach 150%. While some females with a family history of cancer can be accepted at standard rates, others may need to be quoted substandard rates, depending on the underwriting policy of the company. Females with the gene mutation can possibly be accepted at a rate that incorporates a severe mortality surcharge.     

Short-haul city travel is truly environmentally sustainable

With rising interest in and concern about climate change and environmental sustainability, and the significance of the tourism industry worldwide, the impact of tourism-related activities and behaviors on the environment has become a key area of research. In particular, transport related to tourism has come under scrutiny for its contribution to the ecological footprint of tourism of a destination, mostly accounted for by the dominance of air travel. This study contributes to research in this area by identifying the types of travel situations in which tourists make environmentally friendly choices about travel modes and, consequently, which types of tourism destinations should seek to develop and promote in order to minimize the environmental impact of the tourist sector on both an individual destination and global scale.     

Relational exchange in nonprofits: The role of identity saliency and relationship satisfaction

In practice and research pertaining to charitable giving, the emphasis has been on identifying the characteristics and motivations of donors, but few have asked why donors continue to support a particular nonprofit. This study examines the relationship between renewing donors and nonprofits and their impact on charitable giving levels using identity salience and relationship satisfaction as key mediators of nonprofit relational exchange. In a survey of 719 repeat donors in the United States, to a broad range of nonprofit organizations, identity saliency and relationship satisfaction are introduced as mediating constructs, and the results confirm that both constructs partially guide donor motivations and charitable giving. Theoretically, this suggests that the more a donor identifies with a nonprofit organization and the more satisfied the donor is in the relationship with the organization, the higher their intention to donate. This finding supports previous research in segmentation strategies and service‐dominant logic in the nonprofit sector. Managerial implications of this research include indication of a paradigmatic shift from relational exchange to transformational exchange (or value cocreation) in nonprofit organizations' approach to donor cultivation.     

Comparison of Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances for at least equal protection of respondents

In this paper, a new randomized response model is proposed, which is shown to have a Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance that is lower than the Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance suggested by Singh and Sedory at equal protection or greater protection of respondents. A new measure of protection of respondents in the setup of the efficient use of two decks of cards, because of Odumade and Singh, is also suggested. The developed Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances are compared under different situations through exact numerical illustrations. Survey data to estimate the proportion of students who have sometimes driven a vehicle after drinking alcohol and feeling over the legal limit are collected by using the proposed randomization device and then analyzed. The proposed randomized response technique is also compared with a black box technique within the same survey. A method to determine minimum sample size in randomized response sampling based on a small pilot survey is also given.     

Market segments based on the dominant movement patterns of tourists

This paper presents an innovative method for tourist market segmentation-based on dominant movement patterns of tourists; that is, the travel sequences or patterns used by tourists most frequently. There were three steps to achieve this goal. In the first step, general log-linear models were adopted to identify the dominant movement patterns, while the second step was to discover the characteristics of the groups of tourists who travelled with these patterns. The Expectation–Maximisation algorithm was then used to partition tourist segments in terms of socio-demographic and travel behavioural variables. The third step was to select target markets based upon the earlier analysis. These methods were applied to a sample of tourists, over the period of a week, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. A significant outcome of this research is that it will assist tourism organisations to identify tourism market segments and develop better tour packages and more efficient marketing strategies aligned to the characteristics of the tourists.     

Consumer education in the UK: new developments in policy,strategy and implementation

Consumer education is an integral part of the European Community's consumer policy. It plays a key role in consumer empowerment, helping consumers gain the skills, attitudes and knowledge they need to be able to gear the choices they make as consumers to their economic interests and to protect their health and safety. In its policy statement, the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection states that the European Community is aware that joint measures at national and Community levels should be more structured, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. This paper aims to set out the current policy and strategic context for consumer education and empowerment in the UK; review the role of UK government bodies and other agencies concerned with developments; review recent literature; present the results of interviews with an extensive range of key stakeholders and the results of a survey of service heads for trading standards throughout the UK. It will consider implementation, partnership, resources, ideas and opportunities. The research found that the agenda for consumer education in the UK is at an interesting stage of development. The Enterprise Act 2002 gives the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) a statutory power to carry out educational activities. Consumer education is also moving up the agenda in the trading standards service. In addition, the teaching of citizenship in English schools is already stimulating new developments in consumer education. The paper will consider the need for organizations like these to work together to build on these policy developments and ensure that consumer education gains the profile it needs to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour.