Children’s Food Choice: Advertised Food Type,Health Knowledge and Entertainment

The purpose of this research is to examine how the moderating effects of health knowledge (inactive vs. active) and advertising’s entertainment level (high vs. low) affect children’s response to advertising’s food content (unhealthy vs. healthy). First, a primary study using the qualitative method was conducted with the purpose of identifying healthy and unhealthy food options based on culture, eating habits, nutritional value and the access of Iranian children to each option so that they could be displayed in TV advertising, advergames and questionnaires. Then, a 2 × 2 × 2 full-factorial, randomized, mixed-effects experimental design was used to test the research framework. 330 students (aged 6–11) participated in the study. The findings revealed that children tended to choose more unhealthy foods after exposure to unhealthy food advertising. This effect was greater for a higher level of entertainment, and was successfully moderated by the activation of health knowledge. It was concluded that embedding health messages in advertising (included TV advertising and advergames) help retrieving children’s health knowledge and therefore, choosing less unhealthy food by them.     

Consumers’ Opinions and Use of Food Labels,Nutrition, and Health Claims: Results from Turkey

This study was conducted to reveal Turkish consumers’ (18–65 years residing 10 cities, n = 1200) opinions and use of food labels, nutrition, and health claims. The majority of both females and males (64.7%, 68.2%) seldom read food labels. Risk for not paying attention to food labels was increased 1.287-fold when the gender was male. The percentage of reading food labels increases as education and income levels of individuals increase (p < 0.05). Expiry dates of foods were the most frequent read item on labels (58.0%). Males mostly read information on label to learn the price of the food (71.0%) while females read it to learn the energy value of food (79.0%). Females had more knowledge on nutrition claims compared to males (p < 0.05). The nutrition claims, which were most frequently read by females and males, were trans fat free (23.5%, 21.0%) and low fat/fat free (23.3%, 20.5%). The claim organic was paid most attention on fruit and vegetables (52.0%). The claim “low cholesterol contributes to maintenance of cardiovascular-health” was the most common health claim read. In summary, Turkish consumer’s behaviour of reading labels and nutrition-health claims could change according to some sociodemographic factors and food products.     

Indian Consumers’ Perception for Packaged Food and the Strategies of Food and Grocery Retailers in India—An Analysis

The aim of this article is to study the Indian consumer buying decisions of packaged food and to assess the impact of demographic dynamics on their behavior and their perception about the practicing marketing strategies of different leading food retailers across the National Capital region. We have taken six different retailers—viz. Big Bazaar, Spencer’s Retail, Reliance Fresh, 6Ten retail stores, convenience stores, and kirana (mom-and-pop) shops—in our research in an attempt to examine the consumer’s perception for these retailers’ marketing strategies to sell packaged food. The purpose to choose these retailers is to assess the impact as a whole from organized food retail as well as unorganized food retailing on consumer buying decisions. Respondents were selected by using the stratified random sampling method, and participation was voluntary. 925 respondents from the cities Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Faridabad were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Statistical tools such as chi-square, factor analysis, ANOVA, and the Bonferroni test were used to attain final empirical results and to know the comparison of food retailer strategies with the customer’s choice of retailer.     

Ethics in Nanotechnology: What’s Being Done? What’s Missing?

Nanotechnology shows great promise in a variety of applications with attractive economic and societal benefits. However, societal issues associated with nanotechnology are still a concern to the general public. While numerous technological advancements in nanotechnology have been achieved over the past decade, research into the broader societal issues of nanotechnology is still in its early phases. Based on the data from the Web of Science database, we applied the main path analysis, cluster analysis and text mining tools to explore the main research fronts and hierarchical structure of these societal issues. We found that the research studies fell into four categories: “General Toxicity and EHS (Environment, Health and Safety),” “Medicine and Cytotoxicity,” “Assessment and Regulation,” and “Environment and Ecotoxicity.” These research studies have disclosed much information about the potential effect of nanotechnology on public health and the environment. Relatively speaking, the studies on the assessment, regulation, preventive solutions, and environmental protection are just emerging. This finding indicates that an abundance of effort should be conducted on these emerging themes to maximize the benefits of nanotechnology while minimizing its potential harm. The implications for various parties in this domain are also presented.     

Food Safety:What to Eat in the Future?

Over the past few months, China has repeatedly been hit by food safety scandals, including tainted steamed buns, contaminated pork, and beef extract.It has been two years since China's government declared food safety a national priority, just when the melamine-contaminat -ed baby milk scandal sickened 300,000 infants and killed at least 6.Since then, China's government has threatened, punished and arrested a great many illegal food processors.     

Examining U.S. Food Retailers’ Decisions to Procure Local and Organic Produce From Farmer Direct-to-Retail Supply Chains

U.S. food retailing is a competitive sector that has undergone rapid changes. The U.S. market for organic products has expanded rapidly over the last decade, while local foods have become a more visible marketing strategy. Studies focusing on the marketing of these products by retailers are sparse and generally qualitative. This article is the first quantitative examination of the connection between the local and organic retailing. A sample selection model is used with data from a 2008 national survey of organic retailers to study supplier interactions and company characteristics that influence a retailer’s decision to procure local organic produce directly from farmers, and the rate at which they procure these products. The results show that the number of years a store has sold organic products and the size of the company, as well as aspects prioritized in choosing suppliers and past problems interacting with local suppliers, affect the outcomes.     

What Should Be the EU’s Approach to Global Trade?

For a global player like the EU, it must adequately respond to US unilateral actions and not give in to threats in order to preserve its credibility. However, it is not in its interest to let trade conflicts escalate and be drawn into trade wars.It is worth noting that through the bilateral rules established in the context of a comprehensive trade agreement, the EU not only influences global norms and standards but that those in turn feed back into the EU’s economic order in a way that traditional trade agreements have not. They can therefore either reinforce the European model or weaken it.     

Does Nutrition Information Contribute to Grocery Shoppers’ Willingness to Pay?

An experimental auction and the eye-tracking technology are used to detect the relationship between consumers’ understanding of the nutrition information and their willingness to pay for food items. Additional attention is given to health-conscious individuals. Salad mix and apple juice are selected for the experiment. A Tobit model is used for the analysis. The results show that nutrition information has some effect on consumers’ purchasing decision. Shoppers are willing to pay less for fat and mineral information, but more for ingredient, protein, sodium, and carbohydrate information of salad mix. As for apple juice, shoppers care only for energy and other nutrient information, as well as the health claim “vitamin C naturally high.” Further, health-conscious individuals are more responsive to the nutrition claims, such as “high in fiber” (salad mix) and “vitamin C naturally high” (orange juice). A possible limitation of the conclusion exists due to the small sample size.     

Consumers’ Perceived Value and Willingness to Purchase Organic Food

ABSTRACT

The demand for organic products has rapidly expanded worldwide in recent years. However, the organic market remains a niche market in most countries, and research in this area remains limited. Further investigation is necessary to better understand consumer perceptions about organic food and the circumstances in which they are willing to purchase organic food. Accordingly, the authors seek to understand the perceived value that consumers associate with organic food and the factors that impact their willingness to purchase organic food. This study is exploratory in nature and uses a qualitative approach through the use of in-depth interviews. Findings from the study suggest that consumers who perceive a positive value with regard to organic food are more willing to purchase organic food, in which health was the primary perceived benefit. For consumers who perceive a negative value with regard to organic food, they are less willing to purchase organic food. Many did not see any difference between organic food and nonorganic food. Instead, they viewed the prices of organic food as being expensive and argued that more efforts are needed on their part to source for organic food. Implications and recommendations from research findings are also presented.     

What’s so entrepreneurial about intrapreneurs?

This paper discusses the determinants of becoming an intrapreneur. Individuals maximise their utility while deciding among three occupations: independent entrepreneurship, paid employment and intrapreneurship. I show that intrapreneurs resemble employees rather than entrepreneurs. Specifically, comparing the decision-making of intrapreneurs to that of entrepreneurs, the former are significantly more risk averse, expect lower but less uncertain reward and are broadly endowed with a poorer set of entrepreneurial abilities; despite having higher levels of human capital they fail to recognise business opportunities and have lower confidence in their entrepreneurial skills. A distinction within the category of intrapreneurship, based on the level of engagement and therefore the level of personal risks they bear, adds to our understanding of intrapreneurship. Engaged intrapreneurs, i.e., intrapreneurs that expect to acquire an ownership stake in the business, unlike the rest of intrapreneurs, share the attributes usually assumed to characterise entrepreneurs.     

What’s Wrong with Executive Compensation?

I broadly explore the question by examining several common criticisms of CEO pay through both philosophical and empirical lenses. While some criticisms appear to be unfounded, the analysis shows not only that current compensation practices are problematic both from the standpoint of distributive justice and fairness, but also that incentive pay ultimately exacerbates the very agency problem it is purported to solve.     

What Skills Are Needed to be a Humanitarian Logistician?

Logistic skills are of importance for employment and career development, and prior research has highlighted differences in skill requirements for different logistics functions as well as for different groups of logisticians. However, the continuing incidence of natural disasters and complex emergencies and their associated challenges including the requirement to build relationships with diverse stakeholders, has increased the demand for humanitarian logisticians—but there is, as yet, little understanding of which skills are important in this context. This article develops a conceptual framework for skills in the field of humanitarian logistics, and evaluates the framework through a content analysis of job advertisements with a special focus on the 2010 Haiti earthquake. This analysis concludes that humanitarian logisticians need a broad spectrum of functional skills (such as procurement, and warehouse and transport management) that must often be held in some depth. In addition, however, humanitarian logisticians need “contextual” skills that reflect their particular field of employment (such as security management and a comprehensive knowledge of donor regulations). It is suggested that such contextual skills are likely to feature in other areas of logistic employment, and that further research to identify these would lead to improvements in training and education programs.     

Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship Education: Where Are We,and What Are the Possibilities?

The growing need for a workforce equipped to face uncertainties and address problems not susceptible to inquiry based on pure analytical skills has caused the rapid growth of design‐based curriculum and educational activities. Entrepreneurship education has embraced a design thinking lens, as evidenced by the increasing number of curricula incorporating processes that have roots in design. Yet there is limited understanding of the conceptual underpinnings and the implementation of such practices. We provide theoretical links to provide conceptual clarity to design‐based entrepreneurship education, propose recommendations with a multistakeholder alignment‐based model, and perform a survey to demonstrate its current state of practice.     

Exemptions to the Children’s Sleepwear Flammability Standards: A Description of Policy Considerations and an Evaluation of the Effects on Burn Injuries to Children

In 1996, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) amended the children’s sleepwear flammability standards to exempt sleepwear sized for infants aged 9 months or younger and tight-fitting sleepwear for older children. These amendments were adopted after CPSC concluded that they would provide consumers a wider selection of children’s sleepwear without diminishing the protection provided by the standards. They were also issued in response to an apparent preference for untreated cotton garments by many parents and difficulties in enforcing the pre-amendment standards. Nevertheless, the amendments were controversial. Some interested parties opposed them because they believed the exemptions would substantially reduce the level of safety for children. The amendments were also subjected to congressional scrutiny; in 1999, after they had gone into effect, Congress required that the Commission consider revoking them. To address these concerns, in cooperation with the American Burn Association and Shriners Hospitals for Children, the CPSC initiated a national study of child clothing-related burn injuries treated in burn center hospitals. From 2003 through 2005, the CPSC collected information on 475 such injuries. This study evaluates the burn center data to help determine the safety effects of the amendments to the sleepwear standards. The results provide no evidence of increased risk of burn injury associated with the exemptions from the sleepwear standards.

What is the CSR’s Focus in Healthcare?

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been the subject of several academic contributions, but in the health sector the development of an interest in this subject is very recent. Although many practices in healthcare are already socially responsible, progressing from a series of socially responsible behaviours to a socially responsible organization entails a more consolidated awareness of the health sector’s mission and the needs of its participants. In this paper, we will review the different studies published that address the relationship between the healthcare sector’s corporate responsibility and society, with the aims of individuating the prevailing foci that are emerging and categorizing the proposed contributions according to these foci: social responsibility and organization; social responsibility and social impact; social responsibility and competitiveness. Finally, the paper finishes with a personal definition of CSR and its correlated ethical roots.     

Children’s media socialisation: parental concerns and mediation in Iran

Children’s media socialisation, parental concerns, and mediation styles have been studied mainly in the US and Europe. The present research aims to extend media socialisation theory by investigating children’s media behaviour and parental concerns and mediation styles in Iran, and then to compare the findings with the research based on parents in Western countries. Based on in-depth interviews with parents from Iran, we put forth propositions and a media socialisation model. We find that parental concerns and behaviour are influenced by their cultural practices and expectations, government regulations, and media dominant in the local region.     

Food Advertising and Obesity Prevention: What Role for the European Union?

When the Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF Directive) was first adopted in 1989, there was very little discussion on how food advertising should be regulated at Community level. However, things have changed as a result of rising levels of obesity in all EU Member States. Consequently, several stakeholders have suggested that the advertising of unhealthy food to children should be restricted. This article analyses whether and how, bearing the obesity epidemic in mind, the European Union could regulate the marketing of food high in fat, sugar and salt to children (HFSS food). It starts by presenting the evidence supporting such regulation. It then focuses on the contribution which the TVWF Directive and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive) could make to the debate. It finally looks at the broader regulatory framework by discussing their relationship with other instruments of Community law relating to food advertising, and in particular the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCP Directive) and the recently adopted Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods.

What’s in it for Me? An Examination of Accounting Students’ Likelihood to Report Faculty Misconduct

Since there are so few controls over detecting and preventing faculty misconduct, one of the most common ways in which it is discovered is through student reports (in other words, whistleblowing). Given the importance of student reports in bringing to light faculty’s ethical lapses, this paper seeks to understand what factors influence students’ likelihood to report faculty misconduct. We develop an empirical model that integrates the decision process of the Prosocial Organizational Behavior (POB) Model with insights from the emotional perspective on whistleblowing. Specifically, we use an experimental survey to examine how students’ perceived unfairness of the faculty misconduct, feelings of anger, and the students’ self-interest in the situation in conjunction with situational “cues for inaction” lead to the intention to blow the whistle. Overall, the results from our structural model partially support our theoretical model. Interestingly, these findings demonstrate that, in the case of faculty member misconduct, anger and perceptions of unfairness play a greater role than the more rational cost-benefit process of the POB model. These results could aid in development of ethics education for students and could also inform the development of university policies that encourage students to come forward when faced with faculty misconduct.     

Alan’s approach to research and his colleagues

Business Economics - Our paths crossed many times. Some hallmarks of his research were his focus on topics people were talking about, his finding new sources of data, and his use of new econometric...     

Burger King and McDonald’s: Where’s the Spillover?

This paper studies how spillover effects from competitors’ choices affect a firm’s decision to open a store. Using panel data from the UK’s fast food industry, I propose and estimate a game of entry under incomplete information that incorporates spillover effects between firms’ entry decisions. A positive spillover is identified for Burger King – increasing the stock of existing McDonald’s by one outlet increases Burger King’s estimated equilibrium probability of opening a new store by approximately 18 percentage points. Furthermore, the estimated model suggests that this spillover affects Burger King’s variable profit, as opposed to its fixed cost of entry. It is less clear whether this externality matters for McDonald’s.