The impact of cognitive age on Internet use of the elderly: an introduction to the public policy implications

Despite the growth of the Internet, one area that has not really been discussed is the elderly's use of the Internet. Given the rapid growth of this population as well as the potential the Internet holds for them, it is a subject worth consideration. However, seniors cannot be defined simply by their chronological age, but by their cognitive age. This paper discusses the impact of cognitive age of a national random sample of American elderly consumers on their Internet use. The results suggest that those seniors with a younger cognitive age use the Internet more than those seniors with an older cognitive age. Additionally, seniors with a younger cognitive age have more social contact off‐line (but not online) than those seniors with an older cognitive age. Finally, in terms of demographic variables, chronological age is positively associated with cognitive age and women report a younger cognitive age than men. These results suggest that for policy makers interested in increasing the participation of seniors, they can utilize the Internet to reach those who are younger in terms of cognitive age; however, they will not be able to reach all seniors in this manner and they need to utilize the Internet as a complementing media to their traditional communication sources.     

关注农村空巢老人—基于湖北省21个村200份问卷的分析

基于湖北省21个村庄的200份问卷,对该省空巢老人的经济收入、健康医疗、养老需求、生活幸福感等方面进行了深入的分析。分析表明：空巢老人的收入水平低,生活负担重;多数老人的健康状况令人担忧;六成以上的老人对养老持悲观心态,且养老观念在转变,＂依靠社会养老＂成为最被认可的养老模式。对此,应该在农村完善各项政策和服务,使农村空巢老人真正得到＂老有所养＂、＂老有所医＂。     

The vulnerable healthcare consumer: an interpretive synthesis of the patient experience literature

The increased policy emphasis on the ‘patient experience’ places the health consumer in centre stage as the driver for healthcare delivery. This poses challenges for service providers to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, notably those with disabilities, who are often more likely to be both in greater need of services and, at the same time, less able to access them. This paper reports an interpretive synthesis of qualitative research studies in the UK and US on the experience of vulnerable patient groups using a broad range of health services. An interpretive review method was adopted to capture the complexity of the data. Eighteen papers were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria for the review. Seven key themes were identified: life experience, service design, point of delivery, accessibility, availability, specialist education/training and consumer typology. Although policy makers and providers often refer to the need for greater consumerism in the development of health services, our review suggests that it may be appropriate to consider a model of ‘mediated consumerism’ for some groups of service users. While some concerns are common to both mainstream and vulnerable consumers, others such as accessibility of services, and the resulting experience of health care, are particular to specific vulnerable groups. Accessing the experiences of these more vulnerable groups therefore warrants close attention in the development of both policy and practice in health service delivery.     

农村地区留守儿童学校教育的现状与思考

农村留守儿童是在城乡二元体系松动过程中产生的一群“制度性孤儿”,是社会转型期的一个新生弱势群体.农村留守儿童在学校教育中面临的学习、心理等问题,与父母外出、亲情缺失有密切的关联.因此,在大力倡导社会各界关注农村留守儿童的前提下,应转变学校办学理念,充分拓展学校职能,赋予学校更多的家庭教育儿童、养育儿童的功能,以探索新的农村地区留守儿童学校教育的发展方向.     

Low literacy,policy and consumer vulnerability: Are we really doing enough?

A perennial issue in transformative consumer research and public policy is the plight of low‐literate vulnerable consumers. Low‐literate consumers have been observed misinterpreting labels, misusing products and purchasing the wrong item, which leads to devastating outcomes as they continue to make poor decisions out of ignorance. Based on a thorough review of past studies on consumer literacy and vulnerability, we explore how stigma and attribution operate as underlying mechanisms for influencing how low‐literate consumers behave in the marketplace. This paper problematises blanket statements that all low‐literate consumers are vulnerable and addresses the possibility that universal policy actions may inadvertently create further marginalization for those it is meant to protect. Our paper contributes by introducing a new typology of low‐literate consumer vulnerability to challenge conventional understandings of who the vulnerable consumers are in relation to their literacy level and actual marketplace behaviour. From a policy standpoint, the insights gained from our review speak to the need for differentiating low‐literate consumers in terms of their status of vulnerability, which inform public policy initiatives and effective consumer education for their empowerment and protection.     

国际投资税收政策对跨国企业集团投资战略的影响

由于各国经济发展水平、经济资源优势和经济国际化程度不同,各国都制定符合各自经济政策目标的国际投资税收政策,采取的税收优惠政策的侧重点也各不相同。跨国企业集团在制定投资战略时应注重分析各国引导投资的侧重点并充分加以利用,在投资战略选择中,必须慎重确定投资所在国的重点优惠项目或重点优惠地区,全面考虑投资国和投资所在国之间的国际税收协调性,正确认识资本投入量同税收负担与其他投资环境要素之间的关系。应以全球的观点进行国际化投资战略规划,以谋求集团整体税收负担的最小化和整体投资收益的最大化     

Neither passive nor powerless: reframing economic vulnerability via resilient pathways

ABSTRACT

Resilience, as an emerging construct within the contemporary field of consumer vulnerability, has received limited empirical attention within the context of economic adversity. This paper examines how low-income women strive to reframe their relationship to the market via resilient pathways. It establishes how through active agency, self-care practices and relational coping, women maximise care of self and care of others with limited economic means. Comprised of multidimensional coping resources for positive adaptation, resilient pathways offer vulnerable consumers distinct trajectories to well-being and overturn deficit-focused views about how those facing chronic economic disadvantage, (re)assert themselves in vulnerable consumption contexts.     

Children as Vulnerable Consumers in Online Environments

Children are seen as vulnerable consumers, yet little research has considered why they are more vulnerable than adults in an online context. This conceptual article uses an ecological paradigm to explore the underlying mechanisms that bring about vulnerability for children in general and specifically when interacting with online marketer created material. It does this by using the definition of a vulnerable consumer outlined by Baker, Gentry, and Rittenburg to focus on how marketing influence creates power imbalance, hinders consumption goals, and affects personal and social perceptions of self, leading children to be vulnerable consumers in online contexts. A social ecological conceptual framework is presented that demonstrates the interdependence of children's vulnerability with the social structure of their environments. Finally, in discussing how marketers are ultimately the agents in control of creating a fair marketplace for children online, policy implications are given.     

Consumers’ evaluation of allocation policies for scarce health care services: Vested interest activation trumps spatial and temporal distance

The allocation of scarce health care service resources often requires trade-offs between individual and collective outcomes (e.g., when some individuals benefit more strongly from a given policy than others). Based on construal level theory, one would expect that consumers cognitively represent the individual and collective outcomes of an allocation policy at different levels of abstraction and that they evaluate allocation policies more positively when there is congruency between the cognitive representation of the policy??s focal outcome and the spatial and temporal distance inherently present in the policy??s decision context (e.g., allocation decisions on a future policy). However, we hypothesize that this congruency effect can be overruled by a high vested interest mindset that is activated by an individual??s recent personal experience with a health care service provider. Since a high vested interest mindset increases the relevance of the allocation policy implementation for the individual because s/he perceives strong personal consequences, we propose that for consumers with recent experience the evaluation of an allocation policy that focuses on individual outcomes is higher than that of a policy that focuses on collective outcomes irrespective of the spatial and temporal distance in the decision context. Results of a hypothetical experiment among a representative sample of the general population confirm the congruency effects in the new domain of health care service allocation policies, and provide support for the proposed overruling effect of the activation of a high vested interest mindset by recent personal experience on spatial and temporal distance.     

Exploring Civic Engagement Through Seniors' Good Citizenship Behavior Within Clubs

The argument for civic engagement is that it enables individuals to feel empowered and shapes their political and social attitudes which are attributes that promote individuals to be better citizens. This study focuses on senior citizens, and we use the place-attachment theory to better understand the good citizenship behavior of seniors within clubs, and we further explore how this behavior affects their civic engagement. The findings provide insights into seniors' civic engagement within the confines of clubs. As a result of these findings, we go on to suggest a framework for understanding the behavior of civic engagement. Our model of seniors' civic engagement in clubs provides greater insights for academics and policy makers on the sources and physical places that can foster communities to come together for shared interaction and cohesion.     

The potentials and perils of prosocial power: Transnational social entrepreneurship dynamics in vulnerable places

Social entrepreneurs can be powerful change agents for alleviating the suffering of the disadvantaged. However, their prosocial motivation and behavior frequently result in detrimental impacts on those they intend to support, especially when their operations span different socio-spatial contexts. We conducted a multiple comparative case study among 12 transnational social entrepreneurs of foreign, domestic non-indigenous, and local indigenous origin, who are seeking to improve the livelihoods of indigenous communities in rural Ecuador. We introduce the concept of prosocial power to social entrepreneurship research and demonstrate how it can work as a double-edged sword in the hands of transnationally embedded social entrepreneurs who operate in vulnerable places. Context-bound variations in social distance, bi-directional learning, reflexive impact measurement, and socio-spatial dominance were identified as being decisive for prosocial power to lead to positive or negative impacts on disadvantaged others.     

Seeking attention versus seeking approval: How conspicuous consumption differs between grandiose and vulnerable narcissists

Narcissism, a personality trait characterized by entitlement and conceit, is increasingly prevalent in society. Two subtypes of narcissism exist: grandiose narcissism (characterized by arrogance and dominance) and vulnerable narcissism (characterized by social insecurity and overreliance on others’ feedback). We posit that both narcissistic subtypes will engage in ostentatious, showy purchases, that is, conspicuous consumption. Since the two subtypes differ so profoundly in their self-esteem regulation strategies, we further posit that their motivations to consume conspicuously may vary. Specifically, we hypothesize that grandiose narcissists’ conspicuous consumption will be driven by their need-for-uniqueness, whilst that of vulnerable narcissists by their need to avoid social disapproval. We test our hypotheses using data obtained from 382 participants. Our results support our expectations that both narcissism subtypes predict conspicuous consumption and that the relationship between grandiose narcissism and conspicuous consumption is mediated by their need-for-uniqueness. Meanwhile, we find that approval-seeking (AS) is only a marginally significant mediator of vulnerable narcissism and conspicuous consumption in females. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications.     

Therapy,Enhancement, and Medicine: Challenges for the Doctor–Patient Relationship and Patient Safety

There are ethical guidelines that form the foundation of the traditional doctor–patient relationship in medicine. Health care providers are under special obligations to their patients. These include obligations to disclose information, to propose alternative treatments that allow patients to make decisions based on their own values, and to have special concern for patients’ best interests. Furthermore, patients know that these obligations exist and so come to their physicians with a significant level of trust. In this sense, therapeutic medicine significantly differs from straightforward business practices such as the buying and selling of houses, cars, cell phones, etc. However, we argue that this relationship differs when medicine is used for enhancement rather than therapy. When patients seek enhancements they are not as vulnerable as when they are ill. And in an enhancement setting, physicians have little role outside of medical risks to discuss motivation and alternatives. Therefore, we conclude that a more reasonable alternative may be for doctors and patients to use ethical norms associated more with straightforward business practices, specifically sales. We believe that full disclosure of this different set of norms will benefit both physicians and patients.     

从个体关照到提升家庭整体发展能力：我国家庭发展政策研究综述

随着人口和社会的双重变迁,家庭领域发生了深刻变化,学者纷纷围绕家庭发展政策进行多角度研究,主要包括家庭变迁中的家庭政策、提高家庭发展能力的家庭政策以及家庭发展政策中的路径及框架体系构建等,通过对这些研究进行梳理可知,家庭发展政策的重心已从个体关照向提升家庭整体发展能力转变。因此在未来的政策体系构建过程中,要特别重视并解决家庭凝聚力弱化导致家庭功能的发挥严重受阻、对家庭特别是计生家庭的生命转折期缺乏重视导致家庭发展能力衰弱、低龄幼儿照顾与教育的缺失直接影响家庭的持续发展等关键性问题。     

关于完善中国新型农村居民养老保险体系的研究（英文）

在中国,农民是一个数量庞大的弱势群体。农村的公共服务建设落后于城市,尤其是在养老保障方面。为农民提供社会保护和保障其生活质量,有利于在农村和城市地区减少贫困、改善老年生活状况。2009年,在中国建立了新型农村居民养老保险体系。本研究旨在为中国的政策制定者提供参考。为此本研究采用了四轮德尔菲法,以探讨中国新型农村居民养老保险体系中可以完善的领域,以及这些领域的优先次序。     

Time price differentials in the rent‐to‐own industry: implications for empowering vulnerable consumers

Rent‐to‐own enterprises represent a lucrative and rapidly growing industry. They are of particular concern to social service agencies, policy makers and consumers because they target a vulnerable, economically disadvantaged segment of the population. This article presents an investigation of a major player in the industry in one US state that fell under scrutiny by the courts because of a question of whether it is a retail enterprise covered by truth in lending legislation. Findings indicate that the average time price differentials charged by the largest retailer in this state exceed by more than three times the regulated 30% cap on interest rates. Rent‐to‐own is an example where regulation must be put into place so consumers can make more informed decisions. Such regulation, however, must be accompanied by financial literacy education that will further empower vulnerable consumers in the marketplace.     

The New Employment Contract and the “At Risk” Worker

Employees of large blue chip corporations in the 1950s through the mid-1960s demonstrated great loyalty to their employers. In return, those employers provided cradle to grave job security and benefits for their workers. During the 1980s, however, this social contract between employees and employers seems to have undergone a change. The norms of the organization man of the earlier period passed from use and a new normative framework seems to have developed. The norm of loyalty on the part of both parties seems to have passed from practice. Employers would now terminate employees if it was in their short term interest to do so, while employees began to move from company to company, no longer making a career with one employer. Many writers have attributed this new employment relationship to the dynamics of the times, as we move from modern to late modern/early post-modern times. This paper reports the findings of a pilot qualitative study done with graduating seniors from an AACSB accredited business school (n=48). The subjects were asked to write self-reflective essays on the following themes: Given the nature of the new employment contract, are careers a vestige of the past? How do you feel about such concepts as career self reliance and career resiliency? Do you feel “at risk” in the new world of work? If so why, if not why not? If so, how do you plan to deal with it? The paper reports the critical response patterns of these graduating seniors and draws insights and conclusions from the literature illuminating the student reflections.     

Seniors’ seasonal movements for health enhancement

ABSTRACT

Seasonal migration is an emerging trend among seniors in China. In comparison with the lifestyle-oriented migrations of seniors in much of the western world, Chinese seniors often travel with a focus on improving their health and longevity. Adapting the concept of a therapeutic landscape, the changes experienced by seniors with health problems who visit Bama County, a remote area in southwest China well-known for the longevity of its residents, are explored through personal observation and in-depth interviews. All seniors reported improvements, to different degrees, in their physical, mental and social health. These positive transformations were attributed to the therapeutic physical, social and symbolic landscapes of Bama, as well as to the seniors’ proactive actions and their positive mindset. Implications are offered to the service industry, especially the broad tourism and hospitality industry, that is interested in attracting and catering to the aging Chinese population.     

Working with risky consumers: multi‐professional care for substance‐using pregnant women

Substance use is increasingly common in many countries. Consumption and lifestyles associated with consumption often involve a number of specific health and legal risks for users. For pregnant women, the risks extend to the health and care of their unborn children. A multi‐professional approach to the management of substance use in pregnancy is recommended as best practice but, as with all strategies, effectiveness depends on the way that professional workers implement policy. This study evaluated evidence of multi‐professional working within local maternity services in and around a Scottish city by (a) collating and analysing data from the maternity records of 163 substance‐using women, who delivered between January 2001 and December 2003; and (b) conducting a questionnaire survey in 2004 with 120 midwives and neonatal nurses for their views on maternity care for substance‐using women and their babies. Despite the importance placed on multi‐professional working by midwives and neonatal nurses, maternity records indicated operational inconsistencies with implementation in some cases and not in others. Policy was not yet to be seen embedded in everyday practice.     

A comparison of ethical evaluations of business school faculty and students: A pilot study

This paper reports the results of a pilot study of differences in ethical evaluations between business faculty and students at a Southern university. Data were collected from 137 business students (46 freshmen and 67 seniors) and 34 business faculty members. Significant differences were found in 7 of the 30 situations between freshmen and faculty and four situations between seniors and faculty. When the combined means for each group were tested, there was no significant difference in the means at the 0.05 level of significance. A trend was revealed, however, in that the majority of the time faculty members were the most ethically oriented followed by seniors and then freshmen.Dr. Robert E. Stevens is Professor of Marketing at Northeast Louisiana University and is the author of 11 books and more than 80 articles. Dr. Stevens has served as a consultant to local, regional, and national firms for research projects, feasibility studies, and market planning, and has been a partner in a marketing research company.Dr. O. Jeff Harris is Professor of Management at Northeast Louisiana University. Prior to coming to Northeast, he taught at Louisiana State University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Texas. Professor Harris has written three books and numerous articles and position papers. He is a consultant to many health care and processing organizations.Dr. Stan Williamson is an assistant professor of management at Northeast Louisiana University. He teaches strategy, human resource management, and management principles. Before this, he served as a senior executive for a regional health care system for 13 years and as a consultant in the health care field.