Risk management and consumer safety

Abstract

Risk assessment and risk management techniques are being developed in many fields as an aid to safety investment decision making. Already these techniques are having impacts upon aspects of consumer safety which overlap with other sectors where safety is important and where these methods are being applied. Recent examples where this has happened range from public transportation to the safety of children's playgrounds. This paper reports on progress in risk management in some of these sectors. Key elements include the notion of ‘acceptabl’ and ‘tolerabl’ risk, the optimisation of safety according to principles known as ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) or ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable), and the use of quantitative methods such as cost-benefit analysis as an aid to decision making. Attention is drawn to a number of factors which consumer safety practitioners may wish to consider should it be decided to follow the trend towards a risk-based approach to the management of consumer safety.     

The attitudes and nutritional knowledge of 11‐ to 12‐year‐olds in Merseyside and Northern Ireland

School is a major area for providing young people with nutritional knowledge and skills. In Northern Ireland home economics (HE) is taught to 11‐ to 12‐year‐olds. The 1988 Education Reform Act introduced the national curriculum and HE as a subject was effectively abolished in English schools, and key stage 3 pupils in England are taught nutrition in Science, Design and Technology and in the cross curricular theme of health education. The aim of the study was to compare the attitudes and nutritional knowledge of children in Merseyside, England (M) and Northern Ireland (NI). A questionnaire was designed, which examined attitudes to aspects of healthy eating and tested the subject's knowledge, practical and theoretical, on nutrition and healthy eating. Subjects aged 11–12 years were recruited (M: 541, NI: 128). The majority ‘understood and knew what to eat to have a healthy diet’, ‘liked the taste of healthy food’ and considered that ‘there were healthy foods at home’. However, a significantly greater number in Merseyside agreed that ‘their health will be affected in the future by what they eat now’ (M: 71%, NI: 54%, P < 0.01) and agreed that ‘they enjoyed cooking’ (M: 76%, NI: 56%, P < 0.01). Whereas more from Northern Ireland agreed that ‘they do not know what foods to eat to have a healthy diet’ (M: 14%, NI: 30%, P < 0.01), ‘that healthy eating involved “dieting” ’ (M: 29%, NI: 59%, P < 0.01) and agreed that ‘there are no healthy food choices at school’ (M: 23% NI: 42%, P < 0.01). More subjects from Merseyside disagreed that ‘healthy eating is a waste of time’ (M: 87%, NI: 77%, P < 0.01). The mean knowledge scores (correct answers) from Merseyside were significantly greater than from Northern Ireland (total score: M: 51%, NI: 43%P < 0.05; practical score: M: 58%, NI: 49%P < 0.05, theory score: M: 38%, NI: 31%, P < 0.05). The results indicate that the healthy food message seems to have been better learnt by children in Merseyside but results of surveys in Merseyside into eating habits suggest that many have not put this knowledge into practice.     

Marketing mass home ownership and the creation of the modern working-class consumer in inter-war Britain

During the 1930s the British building industry and building society movement waged an aggressive campaign to sell the idea of home ownership to a new mass market. A number of sophisticated marketing strategies were employed to transform the popular image of a mortgage from ‘a millstone round your neck’ to a key element of a new, suburbanized, aspirational lifestyle. Despite opportunistic behaviour by some developers, the spectacular success of this campaign both contributed to the fastest rate of growth in working-class owner-occupation during the twentieth century and had a substantial impact on consumption patterns for families that moved to the new estates.     

How to create tools to empower the consumer – the challenges of home economics/FCS and home economics teacher education

The aim of this presentation is to introduce some new frameworks that have been under discussion in developing university studies in the field of home economics or family and consumer sciences in Finland. The empirical data is derived from students’ contributions during their university studies in the degree program for home economics teachers at the Master's level. The main data is based on students’ opinions and conceptions about strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O) and threats (T) of their university discipline and field to meet the future challenges. All students are at the level of advanced studies (mainly 4th year), and the number of students is 34. All have some school experience as a home economics teacher and most also have some other work experience in the field of home economics, family and consumer sciences. The research questions were: (1) How do the students see their field according to the SWOT analysis? and (2) What type of developments do they pose for the future? There was also an implementation section. Students were asked to produce their own ‘action plan’ for the next few years. The preliminary data analysis reveals that inside the discipline and the field there are several empowerment elements, but also that they are not used as efficiently as they could be. In conclusion, most students have a very realistic view of their studies. They can analyse them in diverse ways, and reveal important qualifications. They are aware of the various challenges that face us in both the present and future societies. Students also see that home economics not only gives them tools that are relevant in present school situations, but the subject includes such future potentials that can be used in directing the school towards the more open learning environments. Home economics has its place inside the education system. Both the idea of ‘home economics teacher as a researcher’ and ‘home economics teacher as an educator’ were seen as important aims to maintain in the university degree.     

Nudging using the ‘dish of the day’ strategy does not work for plant‐based meals in a Danish sample of adolescent and older people

Adequate nutrition is an important factor for health and well‐being in adolescents and later years. Fruits and vegetables are part of a healthy diet as important source of nutrients, but their intakes are lower than the recommendations in European countries. This study aimed to compare the choices made by adolescents and older people between three similar dishes, one based on meat, one on fish and one on vegetables, in two different conditions: a neutral (control) situation and an intervention situation in which the vegetable‐based meal was designated ‘dish of the day’. The comparisons of choices will be made within the same age group (adolescents in the control group vs. adolescents in the intervention group; older people in the control group vs. older people in the intervention group). A quasi‐randomised field trial design was used with a sample of 94 adolescents (aged 10–19 years) and 97 older people (aged ≥65 years), who were randomly allocated to intervention or control groups. In the control situation participants were asked to choose between three similar meals, one meat, one fish and one the VeggiEat dish. In the intervention, the VeggiEat dish was labelled the ‘Dish of the day’. All dishes were provided free of charge, displayed side by side in the same order and served in same portions. The dish choices showed no differences between the control and intervention groups in both age groups, and no differences were found among the other variables analysed. This nudging strategy, ‘dish of the day’, seems not to work for the Danish sample of adolescents and older people. Future nudging studies with these populations are needed in order to find the best strategy to move adolescents' and older people's food habits toward a healthier pattern.     

On the marketing implications of place narratives

Abstract

Acknowledging that ‘locals’ are recognised as an important (yet neglected) dimension of place marketing and following critiques of places as ‘products’, the purpose of this paper is to give voice to ‘local people’. Drawing on local narratives of Santorini, Greece, we call attention to places as culturally significant and discursively produced and consumed. Local narratives provide multiple meanings constructed around the diverse and contested experiences of living and making a living in a place. Our analysis employs the metaphors of ‘harsh beauty’, ‘service business’ and ‘home’ to capture these perspectives. The paper has implications for the development of generative metaphors of ‘place’ and ‘local’ within place marketing and contributes to the dialogue over the continued relevance of our discipline to the public sphere.     

The baby boomer market maven in the United Kingdom: an experienced diffuser of marketplace information

This study identifies and profiles market mavens among the baby boomer generation in the United Kingdom. Boomers are an important market segment, yet most advertising targets younger audiences, making word-of-mouth communications crucial among this older cohort. Findings suggest boomer mavens place great importance on ‘respect’ values, are particularly concerned with fashion and compared with non-mavens are more likely to try new brands, watch more television, hold positive attitudes towards advertising and seek out bargains. The study is useful to those businesses wishing to target a mature consumer who people perceive as a good source of marketplace information and who likes introducing new brands to others.     

Robertson's model: a framework for exploration of World War II conservation consumption policy influence on fashion in the US

This paper studies pertinent materials related to the conservation of textile apparel and textile‐related natural resources that appeared in poster campaign communications published during the Second World War in the US. An examination of World War II poster campaign communications conveying the need for conservation efforts and rationing as communicated to consumers infers the historical context of the era. These poster campaign communications asked consumers to utilize fully of limited resources while maintaining a sense of individuality and trend‐setting creativity and fashion. World War II shortages and allocations influenced fashion innovations in women's apparel in the US. This paper provides a retrospective examination of innovative trends and the various conservation themes associated with women's fashion identify themes used to influence and to inspire Americans to reuse and recycle in support of the war effort. At no other time in history was voluntary textile conservation as prevalent in mainstream American culture as it was during the 1940s. Content analysis reveals reoccurring themes that appeared in the advertisements developed by the War Advertising Council in the 1940s and used in their poster campaign advertisements. Themes and conservation activities identified in their poster campaign communications included

• ? ‘America's New Role as Fashion Arbiters’;
• ? ‘Conserve Time, Money, Materials for National Defense Program’;
• ? ‘War Production Board General Limitations Order L‐85 – Fabric Conservation on Silhouette Dimensions’;
• ? ‘Fashion for Victory’;
• ? ‘Beauty in Peace and War’;
• ? ‘Fabric Conservation’;
• ? ‘Teaching Consumers How to Conserve’;
• ? ‘You're In the War Too’;
• ? ‘Wearing Clothes More’;
• ? ‘Changing Materials for War [Nylon]’.

In addition, print communications were categorized according to Robertson's adoption process model. This study found evidence that supports that Robertson's adoption process model was a useful tool in studying these poster campaign communications relative to Robertson's decision‐making process.     

Consumers’ attitudes,knowledge, self‐reported and actual hand washing behaviour: a challenge for designers of intervention materials

Cross contamination by microbial pathogens in the kitchen environment may play an important role in many cases of food borne illnesses. Hand washing has been shown to be one of the most important factors in controlling the spread of microorganisms and in preventing the spread of disease. However, educational campaigns such as distribution of information leaflets, workshops, performance feedback and lectures have been, at best, associated with a transient improvement in compliance rates. In addition, the majority of research investigating UK consumers’ food safety behaviour has examined self‐reported as opposed to actual hand washing behaviour. This research utilises psychological theory in an attempt to understand how one might design a more effective hand washing campaign. Social cognition models were utilised to explore the relationship between consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, self‐reported and actual hand washing behaviour. The research was conducted in two stages. Firstly, salient beliefs of 100 consumers towards food safety were obtained using open‐ended questions. Secondly, the food handling practices of 40 consumers were observed and their food safety attitudes and knowledge determined using structured questionnaires. All the participants were knowledgeable about hand washing techniques, intended to wash their hands and generally had positive attitudes towards the importance of washing their hands. However, none of the participants adequately washed their hands on all appropriate occasions. The attitude statement results suggest measures of perceived behavioural control, perceived barriers and perceived risk may provide developers of food safety intervention materials with more useful information compared with measures of consumers’ knowledge or intention. Issues of habit and optimistic bias also need to be given consideration when designing intervention materials to change hand washing behaviour of consumers.     

External Public Debt,Trade Linkages and Contagion During the Eurozone Crisis

Against the backdrop of the contagion literature, the paper analyses the impact of financial and trade linkages on sovereign bond spreads in the Eurozone crisis. Using quarterly data for a sample of EMU countries during the period 2000–13, we estimate fixed‐effect panel models with Driscoll and Kraay standard errors that are robust to general forms of spatial and temporal dependence. Our main results can be summarised as follows: first, we suggest that the ‘sudden stop’ of capital inflow towards the peripheral sovereign debt triggered a re‐segmentation of financial markets and economic systems along national borders, with negative implications for risk‐sharing and the efficient allocation of capital. The ‘home bias’ effect – that is the increase in the share of sovereign debt held by domestic banks – worsened the country‐specific risk because the twin crisis (sovereign and banking) began to be conceived as more closely intertwined within countries than before. Second, the structure of international trade helps to account for the geographic scope of contagion, even after controlling for macroeconomic and fiscal vulnerabilities. Finally, the ‘substitution effect’ of public debt securities of stand‐alone emerging countries has affected more the sovereign spreads in the core than in the periphery.     

Accidental injuries among the elderly within the Vienna community: Epidemiology,risk factors and preventive measures

Abstract

Unintentional injuries ('accidents’) among elderly people are a significant burden in public health because such accidents happen frequently and because the proportion of older age groups in the population will continue to rise during the coming decades. One aim of this study, which was done in Vienna, the capital of Austria, was to broaden the preventive concept, adding lifestyle and living conditions to already well-known risk factors following the health promotion approach. Furthermore, characteristics that predispose older residents to accidents should be identified in order to design preventive measures for reducing injuries in this age group.

809 interviews with people 60 years of age and over were conducted, concerning accidents, outcomes of accidents, physical fitness, drug intake, type of house or dwelling, equipment in the household incorporating safety features, psychological well-being and social relations. The information collected was used to draw cross-sectional comparisons between participants who reported having experienced at least one accident in the previous 12 months and those who did not. Furthermore, the accident incidents were classified into 2 groups: incidents without injuries and injurious accidents. The latter served as a base for the epidemiology of injuries for people 60 years of age and over within the Vienna community.

20% of all senior citizens suffer at least one unintentional injury every year, in addition to which 8% experience critical incidents (mostly falls) without injury. Most accidents occur at home or involve pedestrians in public traffic areas. Over 90% of all accidents are falls, and 20% result in fractures. The most important risk factors for accidents in the elderly are gender, increasing age, poor physical fitness and low physical activity, the type of household and household equipment, poor psychological well-being, low income and loneliness.

The findings regarding falls suggest some possible opportunities for reducing the risk of falls by improving buildings and dwellings of the elderly. A promising attempt at practical implementation of these findings is being conducted by the Vienna-based Austrian Institute for Home and Leisure Safety in cooperation with the Vienna City Council. These two organizations are implementing a long-term program that aims at mobilizing institutions and organizations involved in working with the elderly.     

Environmental education: a task for home economists

Environmental education, with its aims of promoting an awareness of and responsibility for the environment, should be a lifelong process in order to protect the environment now and in the future. As home economics education takes place at all levels and in all kinds of schools throughout the world it can be used to demonstrate practical consequences and to motivate personal responsibility. Multiplierc in home economics (professors, teachers, etc) therefore have to integrate environmental education into home economics education and training. It is very important not just to enter into the so called ‘technical protection’ of the environment (water cleaning, reduction of waste, etc.) but to integrate environmental issues into a global view based on a holistic concept. Environmental education in home economics in different countries will be analysed but the main example will be the environmental education in the Federal Republic of Germany (F. R. G.). At the same time questions of content and aims will be discussed.     

Indian food in the UK: personal values and changing patterns of consumption

This qualitative study examined the consumption of Indian foods among groups of English and Indian people living in the UK. Both convenience and freshly made Indian foods were included in the research. The aim was to explore attitudes (based on ethnicity) towards, and the consumption of, Indian foods. The means–end model and laddering methodology were used in interviews with 24 respondents, 12 from each group (English and Indians). The personal values ‘social life’, ‘health’, ‘adventure’, ‘enjoyment’ and ‘savings’ were found to be the most important for English respondents whereas ‘enjoyment’, ‘good life’, ‘health’, ‘religion’ and ‘culture’ were the most desirable value ends for Indians. The results provide an insight into English and Indian peoples’ perceptions of Indian food that can be used in promotion and marketing positioning of branded Indian foods, sauces and accompaniments.     

Leisure book reading and purchasing: an analysis of Turkish consumers

Tracking studies all over the world report a decline in time devoted to reading in all age groups. There is a common stereotype indicating that people prefer other leisure activities to reading books. Low levels of book readership and book purchasing has always been a matter of discussion in Turkey. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of Turkish people’s involvement with books. To achieve this aim, a research survey via self‐administered questionnaire to collect data about leisure time reading, book purchasing and related attitudes was prepared. The sample represents 601 people from eight cities. It was found that around 80% of the sample had read at least one book within the last 6 months, and 58% had purchased a book for her‐ or himself. In addition, a Likert scale with 26 items was utilized to understand the attitudes of respondents to book reading, purchasing and book marketing activities. A factor analysis was also used to check the possibility of reducing the number of attitude items on the scale. Four factors emerged as a result of the factor analysis, labelled as ‘high involvement in books’, ‘preference towards more visual products’, ‘economy factor’ and ‘books must be heavily promoted’. Furthermore, ANOVA and t‐tests were performed to analyse whether attitudes change with demographic variables. Contrary to common beliefs about book readership, this study has revealed favourable attitudes towards book reading and purchasing.     

The safety attitudes of people who use multi-purpose recreation facilities as a physical activity setting

Multi-purpose recreation facilities (MPRFs) are a popular setting for physical activity and it is therefore important that they are safe for all patrons. However, the attitudes of MPRF users towards safety are a potential barrier to the success of injury prevention programmes implemented within MPRFs. This article reports a survey of the safety attitudes of over 700 users of four indoor MPRFs. Factor analysis of 12 five-point Likert scale statements showed that the attitudes clustered around three major dimensions - the importance of safety, the benefits of safety and the perceptions of injury risk. Together, these three dimensions accounted for 49% of the variability in the attitudes. More than 85% of respondents agreed/strongly agreed that: safety was an important aspect of physical activity participation; being injured affected enjoyment of physical activity; people should adopt appropriate safety measures for all physical activity; and individuals were responsible for their own safety. The MPRF users, particularly women and older people, were generally safety conscious, believed in adopting safety measures, and were willing to take responsibility for their own safety. Facility managers can be confident that if they provide evidence-based injury prevention interventions in these settings, then users will respond appropriately and adopt the promoted behaviours.     

The Ethical Agendas of Employment Agencies Towards Migrant Workers in the UK: Deciphering the Codes

This article examines the connections between employment agencies, ethics and migrant workers. The article identifies three approaches adopted by agencies towards ethics and migrant workers, namely, ‘business case’, ‘minimal compliance’ and ‘social justice’ approaches. Through case studies of three agencies in the UK, the article explores the potential and limitations of each of these approaches for meeting the needs of migrant workers. The article points to the limitations of both the business case and ‘minimal compliance’ approaches, stemming from tensions between the attempt to put in place ethical approaches towards the employment of migrant workers and the imperatives of the competitive strategies being pursued by agencies. The article points to the potential for social enterprise agencies to effectively meet the needs of migrants. These agencies can focus on more than just the first transition of migrants into the labour market; can formalize transitions within the labour market and link people to jobs that are more appropriate to their skills and experience, as a means of preventing the perpetuation of skill underutilisation.     

How Does Perceived Effectiveness Affect Adults’ Ethical Acceptance of Anti-obesity Threat Appeals to Children? When the Going Gets Tough,the Audience Gets Going

Little is known on the appraisal of ethically questionable not- for-profit actions such as social marketing advertising campaigns. The present study evaluates the ethical acceptance by adults of anti-obesity threat appeals targeting children, depending on the claimed effectiveness of the campaign. An experiment conducted among 176 Belgian participants by means of an online survey shows that individuals’ acceptance of social marketing practices increases along with the claimed effectiveness of the campaign. As such it demonstrates that the audience adopts a pragmatic perspective, challenging the non-consequentialist stance of social marketers who refrain themselves from using these ‘questionable’ techniques although highly effective. The trade-off between ethical judgment and claimed effectiveness varies depending on whether the threats focus on the child’s physical integrity or social life. Individual characteristics such as parenthood and age also influence the relationship. All in all, it seems that people with stronger connections to the issue such as parents are more ready to compromise. These findings enrich our insights into consequentialism in social marketing campaigns, how people respond to controversial messages targeted at vulnerable group, and open new venues to social managers and public policy makers. Managerial implications and concrete advice on how to communicate with the various audiences are proposed, as well as suggestions for future studies.     

Bags for Life: The Embedding of Ethical Consumerism

The aim of this paper is to understand why some ethical behaviours fail to embed, and importantly what can be done about it. We address this by looking at an example where ethical behaviour has not become the norm, i.e. the widespread, habitual, use of ‘bags for life’. This is an interesting case because whilst a consistent message of ‘saving the environment’ has been the basis of the promotion of ‘bags for life’ in the United Kingdom for many years, their uptake has only recently become more widespread and still remains at low levels. Through an exploratory study, we unpack some of the contextual barriers which may influence ethical consumerism. We do this by examining the attitudes which influenced people to start using ‘bags for life’, and how people persuade others to use ‘bags for life’. We use a case study analysis to try and understand why ethical behaviour change has stalled and not become sustained. We find that both individuals and institutions play a significant interaction role in encouraging a sustained behavioural change towards ethical consumerism.     

Does attitude predict purchase behaviour of apparel products?

During the 1980s the world market in textile and apparel products has become increasingly internationalized. Retailers in Western Europe and North America import goods from around the world, often at the expense of domestic manufacturers. In an effort to encourage consumers to buy locally manufactured products, associations in several countries have tried to change consumer attitudes toward domestically produced textiles and apparel. The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between consumer attitude and consumer behaviour in an apparel purchase. Intercept surveys were conducted with 3,766 consumers in nine locations in the eastern U.S.A. Consumers were questioned about their attitudes toward domestic versus imported clothing and their awareness of the country of origin of their purchase. Reasons for purchase and demographic information were also collected. Some differences between variables were found related to sex, age and geographic location. While it was evident that a large proportion of the consumers sampled said they cared whether the clothing they purchased was domestically produced or imported, a far smaller proportion was aware of the country of origin of the garment just purchased. Therefore, a consistent link between consumers' professed attitudes and their buying behaviour could not be established. Summary and conclusions The consistency of consumer attitudes with consumer behaviour was assessed for a sample of U.S.A. apparel purchasers. Respondents in the eastern U.S.A. were asked about their awareness of and concern with their garment's place of production. Although some differences were found related to sex, age and geographic location, the lack of consistency between attitudes and behaviour was a common phenomenon. Of the total sample, only 20% professed both concern and awareness of their garment's country of origin. In contrast, 60% knew of the ‘Crafted with Pride’ campaign, 44% expressed concern for place of production, and 28% said they knew where the garment just acquired had been manufactured. These relatively low percentages may be due in part to the demographics of the consumers surveyed. This study included a high proportion of females, young and middle-age shoppers. This sample composition is consistent with other research citing these groups as the most frequent apparel purchasers. The results of this study indicate that the oldest age groups and male shoppers are most likely to be aware and concerned. This suggests that those wanting to change attitudes and/or behaviour need to target the groups most likely to be spending on apparel, females, young and middle-age groups. These consumers appear to be the least motivated by patriotic appeals or to base purchase decisions on cues such as country of origin. People from the south, who were more likely to be directly affected by the textile industry, generally were more aware, expressed a higher level of concern, and were more likely to know of the ‘Crafted with Pride’ campaign. Since the south has not been selectively targeted by the ‘Crafted with Pride’ Council, it is very possible that the demographics and personal link of southerners to the apparel and textile industries may be more influential than the Council's media campaign. While it is true that concern, awareness, and knowledge of the campaign are highly correlated, what has not been determined is the causal relationship between these three variables. Does knowledge of the campaign cause one to care more and therefore be more likely to be aware? Or does caring make consumers more susceptible to patriotic appeals and more likely to say they are aware when they really may not be? It has been determined that people who are aware are more likely to care and know of the campaign; it has not been determined that people with knowledge of the campaign will be more aware and therefore guided in their purchase decisions. The intense media campaign by the ‘Crafted with Pride’ Council suggests that the level of concern for domestic clothing production may be influenced by the level of marketing effort. However, the Council's expected behavioural effect of raising the number of potential clothing buyers who actively seek out and purchase American-made apparel was not displayed by respondents in this study. Since it is consumers who ultimately make the final purchase decision, industry representatives and legislators should examine more closely the link between attitudes and action before making production and public policy decisions that will have significant economic effects on all parties concerned.