The usage of media across product classes: the influence of demographics and psychographics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the types of media used for four product classes, and to examine the effect of respondent's demographics and psychographics on the types of media. Eight hundred and four respondents were randomly selected from the population (8040) of five residential sections of Lubbock, Texas, by using systematic sampling. Different merchandise names representing the classes of product were listed in the questionnaire. The respondents were asked to rate each type of merchandise according to the order of media usage when they purchased the merchandise. One hundred and fifty-two questionnaires were analysed by factor analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and Friedman two-way analysis of variance by ranks. Eight psychographic factors extracted by factor analysis were Traditional, Self-confident, Satisfied with Finances, Satisfied with Friends, Living Optimist, Self-conscious, Community Minded, and Homebody. Self-conscious was the only factor to affect the consumers' usage of newspapers, television, radio, magazines and direct mail. In addition, the usage of television was affected by the Satisfied with Finances factor. The demographic variables of marital status, age, education, ethnic group, political outlook, occupation and social level influenced the usage of newspapers, magazines, radio, television and direct mail. The usage of television was affected by one's political affiliation. Income did not influence media usage. The findings indicated that the individual's usage of the newspapers, television, radio, magazines and direct mail was affected by the classes of products: convenience, preference, shopping and speciality goods.     

Project Termination Decisions,Underinvestment and Overinvestment*

In this article, I use the principal‐agent framework to examine the incentives of risk‐and work‐averse agents to work on projects that are long‐term, multistage, and subject to abandonment. Periodic applications of effort by the agent are required. The agent also obtains private information as the project evolves, and he decides whether the project should be abandoned or continued. The principal not only seeks to provide incentives to induce the agent to take up such risky investments and work hard at them, but also seeks to provide incentives for the agent to abandon the project if the profit prospect is low. We show that the agent's decision to continue is not always aligned with the principal's desire. The result provides an economic rationale for the sunk cost phenomenon. There also exist conditions under which the agent chooses to prematurely abandon the project.     

The effect of customer dress on attitudes towards selling service by sales associates

Eliminating the criticism levelled towards customer service in retail firms is a current consumer/marketing issue. Customer satisfaction encompasses factors such as sales service and first impression. Research focusing on variables pertaining to emotional labour has the potential of increasing sales productivity and consumer satisfaction. This study represents an exploratory attempt to determine if relationships exists between customer appearance and first impressions and sales service. Results of the study suggest that the potential exists for apparel to influence sales associate customer evaluations as a positive association was found between sales service and first impression.     

THE CLOTHING ATTITUDES AND ACTIVITIES OF HOME ECONOMISTS EMPLOYED IN BUSINESS

The Sproles Consumer Interest and Priorities questionnaire was administered to 3,036 American home economists, who were pursuing careers in business, in order to develop a profile of the clothing attitudes and activities of that segment of the consumer market who (1) have been enrolled in home economics programmes at the college level, and (2) have been employed in businesses created for profit or associations supported by profit-making companies. Sixty-four per cent (1,950) of the survey forms were returned. A majority of the respondents evidenced a consciousness of clothing styles worn by others, an understanding of the importance of fashionability within social situations, an awareness of personal clothing expenditures and an appreciation for the economic value of home sewing. Application of these principles, however, was individualized, as evidenced by contrasting methods of clothing acquisition, varied willingness to purchase clothing at sales or used clothing establishments, and diverse tendencies toward buying clothing on impulse. Only 22% of the sample perceived themselves to be fashion leaders.     

Welfare to Well‐Being Framework for Research,Education, and Outreach

The proposed framework is intended to serve as a model for understanding the comprehensiveness of welfare assistance policies that contribute to the economic well‐being of individuals and families. The framework uses a systems approach to move thinking from a narrow focus on welfare assistance as welfare for the few to well‐being of the many. Such an approach provides a new way to understand policies and language related to welfare reform.     

Implied Equity Duration: A Measure of Pandemic Shutdown Risk

Implied equity duration was originally developed to analyze the sensitivity of equity prices to discount rate changes. We demonstrate that implied equity duration is also useful for analyzing the sensitivity of equity prices to pandemic shutdowns. Pandemic shutdowns primarily impact short‐term cash flows, thus they have a greater impact on low‐duration equities. We show that implied equity duration has a strong positive relation to U.S. equity returns and analyst forecast revisions during the onset of the 2020 COVID‐19 shutdown. Our analysis also demonstrates that the underperformance of “value” stocks during this period is a rational response to their lower durations.     

The Persistence and Pricing of the Cash Component of Earnings

Prior research shows that the cash component of earnings is more persistent than the accrual component. We decompose the cash component into: (1) the change in the cash balance, (2) issuances/distributions to debt, and (3) issuances/distributions to equity. We find that the higher persistence of the cash component is entirely due to the subcomponent related to equity. The other subcomponents have persistence levels almost identical to accruals. We investigate whether investors understand the implications of the differential persistence of the three subcomponents. Our results suggest that investors correctly price debt and equity issuances/distributions but misprice the change in the cash balance in a similar manner to accruals. Our tests enable us to empirically distinguish the “accrual” and “external financing” anomalies with results implying that the accrual anomaly subsumes the external financing anomaly. Our results also suggest that naive fixation on earnings is unlikely to be a complete explanation for the accrual anomaly. Our findings are more consistent with investors misunderstanding diminishing returns to new investments.