Social Network Analysis and Communication in Emergency Response Simulations

In this article, social network analysis (SNA) is applied on two emergency responses, involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) simulations. However, SNA has seldom been used in the literature to explain communication breakdowns, leading to the question of “can it?” To examine the applicability of SNA when assessing communication, the SNAs of two CBRNE simulations are compared and the structural differences are related to instances of ineffective communication. Study 1 has two tiers in the response (commanders and first responders) and Study 2 has three tiers, where operations officers are added between the commanders and first responders. A higher percentage of communication breakdowns is found in Study 2, possibly as a result of the additional layer. SNA provides researchers with a convenient representation and summary of team functioning. However, basic SNA does not help researchers distinguish between effective communication and breakdown. Breakdowns are attributed to long multi-hop communications, attributable to larger networks.     

Men's wage inequality in Serbia's transition

Wage inequality is considered to have been quite compressed in socialist economies. In this paper I analyse how men's wage inequality has changed during the period of transition to a market economy in Serbia, a country which has experienced a particularly dramatic transition. Changes in the distribution of earnings are examined using the Lemieux (2002) decomposition methodology and five annual Labour Force Surveys (2001–2005). I find that the change in wage inequality is mostly driven by changes in wage premiums, while the effect of changes in the composition of the labour force is very small. Isolating the effect of the emerging private sector reveals that changes in the private sector size and wage premium account for an average 25 per cent of the changes in inequality during this period. Moreover, the minimum wage is found to exert a dampening effect on wage inequality.     

Changes in subjective well-being with retirement: assessing savings adequacy

Does retirement represent a state of relative prosperity or unanticipated hardship? To assess whether individuals are successful in smoothing their well-being across the transition to retirement we analyse measures of subjective well-being (SWB) in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. Specifically, this research examines retirees’ current standard of living, financial security and overall happiness relative to their pre-retirement levels. It is found SWB either improves or remains constant for the large majority of individuals as they retire from the labour force. However, there are significant disparities in changes in well-being with retirement among the group of retirees. In particular, the subset of individuals who are forced to retire early due to job loss or their own health, and who find their income in retirement to be much less than expected, report marked declines in their SWB with retirement.     

Understanding the Heterogeneity of Generation Y's Preferences for Travelling: a Conjoint Analysis Approach

The unique motives of young travellers make this market segment very important to the key objectives of the global tourism plan. Accordingly, it is important to understand better the main drivers that affect their choice of a tourism offer. This paper introduces conjoint analysis as an appropriate tool for evaluating the preferences of travellers. The survey was conducted on a sample of 514 respondents. To isolate homogeneous young traveller segments, preference‐based segmentation was performed on the conjoint data. Based on the study findings, a marketing strategy for each identified market segment is suggested. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consumers’ perception of CSR motives in a post‐socialist society: The case of Serbia

Questionnaire‐based consumer research was conducted in Serbia, as a country in a long post‐socialist transition. The focus was on consumers’ opinions of benefits and attitudes which motivate companies to act in a socially responsible way. Analysis resulted in a division of CSR motives into two main clusters: cluster I—stakeholder and value‐driven motives, and cluster II—egoistic motives, performance, and market‐driven motives. The division obviously concerned motives which were the socialist legacy (endogenous motives in cluster I), and motives imported from open market economies (exogenous motives in cluster II). Consumers’ perceptions are significantly different for endogenous and exogenous CSR motives. Exogenous motives are perceived as principal companies’ motives to practice CSR, but there are no significant correlations between the perception of these motives and consumers’ purchase decisions. Endogenous, value, and stakeholder‐driven motives are perceived in a significantly lower degree as CSR motivators with highly divided consumers’ opinions and female consumers rating them significantly higher. Consumers’ purchase decisions are in a statistically significant positive correlation with attribution of endogenous, value, and stakeholders’ needs‐driven motives.     

Does Living Alone Confer a Higher Risk of Hospitalisation?

The rise in one‐person households is a worldwide trend. This means that informal care is less available, particularly for elderly people, with important implications for health‐care utilisation and health expenditure. This paper uses a two‐part model to examine the relationship between living alone and hospitalisations in Australia in terms of both the likelihood and the length of hospitalisation. The results show living alone increases the probability of hospitalisation by 2.9 percentage points and length of stay by 3.8 days for people aged 45 and above. Further analysis indicates that these impacts depend on the length of living alone. Additionally, the probability and the length of hospitalisation vary depending on whether the cause of living alone is separation/divorce, widowhood or never having married.