Will perceived economic deficits affect housing decisions during retirement?

The study ascertains a causal model of factors that influence preretirees perceived difficulty in housing adjustment during retirement. Further, the influence of perceived economic deficits and an economic adjustment decision for preretirees during retirement are investigated. Path analysis results indicate that the perceived difficulty in moving to a more suitable home for retirement is influenced by tenure, setting up a retirement investment plan, and the perceived difficulty in selling one's home to have money for retirement expenses. The perceived difficulty in selling one's home to have money for retirement expenses is influenced by age and tenure. Age, tenure, education and income were influential in predicting the number of sources of retirement income; age, education and income were predictors of setting up of a retirement investment plan.     

Money management practices influencing household asset ownership

The purpose of this research is to describe the types and amounts of assets owned by households, and to determine socio-demographic variables and money management practices that influence the household's total asset ownership. The data used for this study are from a survey conducted during the winter of 1982. Definite patterns of financial asset ownership emerged. A majority, 70% or more, of the households owned current and savings accounts, and cars and real estate. A minority, 30% or less, owned certificates of deposit, mutual funds, stocks, bonds and individual retirement accounts. Age, net income and housing tenure were significant socio-demographic variables in explaining variation in total asset ownership among households. Only two money management practices, i.e. number of credit cards owned and the amount the manager felt comfortable charging on these cards, were significant in explaining variations in the amount of total assets owned by a household.     

Factors influencing community preferences and residential adaptation

The purpose of the study was to examine the factors that influence preretirees' community and residential preferences during retirement. The data were obtained from a mail survey in which the housing and locational retirement decisions of pre-retirees in four states were investigated. Path analysis results indicated that respondents who were Hearing retirement had already moved to a suitable home and were currently in age-mixed communities, and in close proximity to their children. This has implications for community and housing developers, gerontologists, and public policy makers to create a suitable environment for the elderly to age ‘in place’, and to provide them with adequate housing and community services.     

A Detailed Study of Financial Exclusion in the UK

The concept of financial exclusion has been the subject of increasing interest and debate and is characterised as a situation where a proportion of the population have limited access to mainstream financial services. Previous studies of financial exclusion in the UK have generally focused on a particular financial service, such as bank accounts, and have incorporated differing methods and models of investigation. Thus, comparing and contrasting significant influences on exclusion across a range of financial services proves problematic. The current study uses a common model to test and compare influences on exclusion for a wide range of financial services. Findings show that the most consistent and significant influences on financial exclusion are employment status, household income, and housing tenure, closely followed by marital status, age, and level of academic qualification. A more complex relationship with the remaining explanatory variables is apparent.     

The Impact of the Employment of the Wife on the Achievement of Home Ownership

A logistic regression analysis is used to assess the impact of the wife's income, wage rate, and hours worked on changing from rental tenure to home ownership among a subsample of husband-wife house-holds from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Age of the wife, education of the wife, family size, and residence in the Northeast are significant predictors of change in tenure status between 1979 and 1983; of the wife's employment variables tested, only the number of hours worked (a proxy for labor force commitment) is a significant predictor of the probability of changing from rental tenure to home ownership.     

Analysis of tenure choice and housing expenditure patterns

This study employs a selectivity model to account for the simultaneity existing between determinations of tenure status and level of spending. Important socio-economic characteristics affecting housing tenure were identified. Results indicate that income had a more important effect on the housing expenditures of renters than owners at a lower household income level. The race of the household head had a significant effect on variations in housing expenditures for owners but not for renters, suggesting that race may be a more important factor in owner-occupant than in renter-occupant housing. While household size may be an important factor in a family's decision-making in terms of buying a home, it is suggested that once tenure status is selected family size had no significant impacts on housing expenditures. Similarly, married couples were most likely to own their own homes than were other household types; however, married households did not spend more or less than other types of households on either owned or rented accommodation. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that in assessing empirical results, attention should be given to meaningful interpretation of estimated selectivity effects as well as to testing for occurrence of selectivity bias.     

Determinants of retirement planning behaviour and differences by age

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the determinants of retirement planning behaviour and differences among three age groups: 21‐ to 39‐year‐olds, 40‐ to 59‐year‐olds and those aged 60 years and older. A national survey of 911 individuals from households with incomes of $75 000 or greater was conducted in the US. The significance of socio‐demographic variables, the ability to recover from loss, behavioural tendencies and perceived or actual personal control were investigated; together with their role in the prediction of maximization of retirement contributions and ownership in the personal individual retirement account (IRA) or Keogh accounts. The results identified several significant variables in the prediction of ownership in a personal IRA or Keogh, including age, sources of financial information, being an early investor and investor activity. The results also identified several significant variables in the prediction of the maximization of retirement contributions, including employment, income, savings activity, ex ante research, review of investment performance, early investor, investor activity, such as planning for financial future, setting up automatic deposits and reviewing financial information in the mail.     

员工工作满意度的调查与分析——以潮州市陶瓷行业为例

使用自行编制的“潮州市陶瓷行业员工工作满意度调查问卷”．对潮州市陶瓷行业的220名员工进行测量。从工作回报、公司状况、公司领导、工作本身等4个维度来调研分析该行业员工工作满意度状况．探讨了员工工作满意度与其影响因素的关系。研究结果显示：人口统计变量的年龄、工作年限、婚姻状况及工作环境相关因素的企业规模、企业类型对工作满意度的不同维度存在一定的影响。     

Job satisfaction,life satisfaction,and turnover intent among food-service managers

A study of more than 400 food-service managers found that well over one-fourth of the respondents intended to leave their position in the near future—with at least half of those planning to depart the food-service business entirely. Even among the managers who were reasonably content with their jobs in the near term, two out of five thought it was unlikely that they'd stay with their company for five years. The top reason given by the respondents for wanting to leave was salary and benefits. Given previous studies of reasons for turnover, the authors examined the extent of a connection between turnover intention and the following factors: job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and interrole conflict, and such demographic variables as age, tenure, race, and gender. Three of those factors had a significant effect on respondents' intent to leave in the short term: intrinsic job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and age. In each case, the higher the value of the variable (more satisfaction, greater age), the less likely the chances of turnover. Satisfaction also played a significant part in expectations of long-term turnover.     

PURPOSE-BUILT RETIREMENT HOUSING FOR SALE

Sheltered housing for the elderly has traditionally been provided by local authorities and charitable organizations but it seems that they can no longer meet the housing needs of this group. In the last few decades, there has been a significant rise in home-ownership amongst retired people. Two features of this are important. First, those retired people who have been used to owning their own homes may be unwilling to consider somewhat institutional types of housing. Second, as a group, although eligible for specialist retirement housing provided by local authorities and charitable agencies, elderly owner-occupiers find it nearly impossible to qualify for such accommodation as they are not considered to be in need. Recently there has been a move by the private sector to provide purpose-built accommodation for sale to the elderly. How far the needs of the elderly can be met by this type of housing was investigated in two related studies. The first involved interviewing a sample of residents living in sheltered accommodation, while the second study surveyed respondents of retirement age at present living in ordinary housing. The investigation has shown that a considerable demand exists for purpose-built housing for sale to the elderly.     

Impact of energy audits on home energy consumption

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of energy audits on home energy consumption rate, and to determine factors affecting participation in energy audit/weatherization programmes. Objectives included: (i) developing a linear model for predicting home energy consumption; (ii) examining the role of home energy audits in consumption rate; (iii) determining whether audit participation had increased over a two-year period; (iv) surveying reasons for non-participation, and (v) identifying sources of audit/conservation information which were most acceptable to consumers. The model expressed home energy consumption per square foot as a linear function of demographic, attitudinal and structural variables. The three most significant predictors in the model were adequacy of information, housing tenure and income. Eight out of 10 conservation measures studied were significantly more likely to exist in the homes of those who had had an audit. Three of these measures were also significant in the model. Study findings included a 7% increase in audit participation from 1981 to 1983. Lack of money and information were the two major factors inhibiting participation. Consumers indicated a need for conservation information from acceptable sources such as short courses or workshops, county extension agents, or skilled craftspeople.     

Business Ethics: A Study of the Moral Reasoning of Selected Business Managers and the Influence of Organizational Ethical Climate

Since manager's decisions impact organizational goals and organizational ethical behavior, this researcher investigated the degree to which there are differences in the moral reasoning ability of business managers of selected industries and whether there are significant differences between top, middle, and first-line management levels. To determine the relationship between managers' locus of control and their moral reasoning ability, this study considered three independent variables: reported organizational ethical climate, locus of control, and selected demographic and institutional variables. For a foundation, this researcher relied on Kohlberg's theory of moral development, Victor and Cullen's ethical work climate theory, and Rotter's theory of internal—external locus of control (which evolved from Carl Jung). The short form of Rest's DIT instrument measured the moral reasoning abilities of the participants. The selected demographic and institutional variables (age, work tenure, education, gender, management level and industry category) provided the useful information to investigate these relationships of moral reasoning ability of individual managers. A survey questionnaire was sent to 400 managerial and executive level employees at a random sample of Fortune 500 firms throughout the United States: Dun and Bradstreet provided the researcher with a proportional stratified random sample of these 400 managerial and executive level employees at a variety of organizations. Interestingly, women in this study exhibited slightly higher (more external) mean I—E scores and (more principled) higher mean “P” score than men. While both of these results were anticipated, neither was significant. However, one major finding of this study was the statistically significant relationship between age and perceived organizational ethical climate types (Caring, Law and Code, Rule, Instrument, and Independence). Another major finding revealed a statistically significant relationship between management levels and organizational ethical climate.     

Analysing Household and Intra-urban Variants in the Consumption of Financial Services: Uncovering “Exclusion” in an English City

This study provides an empirical assessment of the socioeconomic factors that determine household exclusion from consumer financial services. A unique microeconomic data set, of interview data, collected from a representative cross-sectional sample of 1005 households is analysed using logistic regression techniques. In investigating exclusion from consumer financial services, both financial self-exclusion and institutional-led financial exclusion are examined. Indicators of financial self-exclusion include the absence of a savings account or home contents insurance, whilst indicators of institutional-led financial exclusion include the use of “doorstep lenders.” Findings show that both measures of financial self-exclusion are determined by income, education, age, housing tenure, and social participation, whilst financial exclusion is generally associated with socioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, housing tenure, working status, income, disability, and the presence of young people in household but not with respondents’ residential area, education level, internet use, and social participation. These results offer useful insights to policy makers and financial services providers in terms of the range and mix of policies and instruments that local and central Government can deploy to address exclusion.     

Secondary household production of food: the influence of home meal preparation on food expenditures and reported adequacy

A path model was tested to ascertain the relationships between certain socio-economic and demographic variables, the percentage of household meals prepared and eaten at home (secondary household production), food expenditures, and the household's reported adequacy of food consumed. Significant positive predictors of secondary household production of food were the age of the head and household size. Negative predictors were education of the head, income of the head(s) and number of hours worked by the household head(s). By far the most important predictor was the number of hours worked. The strongest predictor of food expenditures was household size. Other positive predictors were income of the head(s), number of household heads and the degree of urbanization. Negatively affecting food expenditures was secondary household production of food, indicating the ‘saving’ effect of preparing meals at home. The household's reported adequacy of their food was predicted by the positive effect of education of the head, age of the head, tenure, hours worked by the head(s) and number of household heads. Although the number of hours the heads are employed decreased the percentage of meals prepared at home, and the percentage of meals at home negatively affected expenditures, the number of employment hours had no effect on food expenditures.     

The Impact of Moral Stress Compared to Other Stressors on Employee Fatigue, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover: An Empirical Investigation

Moral stress is an increasingly significant concept in business ethics and the workplace environment. This study compares the impact of moral stress with other job stressors on three important employee variables??fatigue, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions??by utilizing survey data from 305 customer-contact employees of a financial institution??s call center. Statistical analysis on the interaction of moral stress and the three employee variables was performed while controlling for other types of job stress as well as demographic variables. The results reveal that even after including the control variables in the statistical models, moral stress remains a statistically significant predictor of increased employee fatigue, decreased job satisfaction, and increased turnover intentions. Implications for future research and for organizations are discussed.     

Consumer satisfaction of retirees: products and services

This study was designed to assess the nature and extent of consumer satisfaction of retirees at two stages of retirement: Stage I, age 60–69; Stage age 70 and above. This cross-sectional mail survey study contained 196 retiree households selected at random, representing retirees who had been retired for at least 1 year and were 60 years of age or older. Results indicate that retirees are in fact a heterogeneous group of consumers who are generally self-reliant, with varying consumer problems and varying reasons for those problems. Results of this study, collectively, lend support to the notion that age alone is not an appropriate way of studying consumer concerns of retirees. Additionally, retirees' stage of retirement has no significant relationship to the person responsible for the weekly household shopping. Finally, reasons for consumer dissatisfaction are not related to the weekly household shopper.     

Predictors of External Whistleblowing: Organizational and Intrapersonal Variables

Research on whistleblowing has not yet provided a finite set of variables which have been shown to influence an employee's decision to report wrongdoing. Prior research on business ethics suggests that ethical business decisions are influenced by both organizational as well as intrapersonal variables. As such, this paper attempts to predict the decision to whistleblow using organizational and intrapersonal variables. External whistleblowing was found to be significantly related to supervisor support, informal policies, gender, and ideal values. External whistleblowing was not found to be significantly predicted by formal policies, organizational tenure, age, education, satisfaction, or commitment.     

An integrative model of consumer satisfaction in the context of e‐services

This research examines how customer satisfaction affects its antecedent and outcome variables such as expectation, performance, disconfirmation, word‐of‐mouth, brand loyalty, attribution and repurchase. This research also takes the important integrative step of understanding the consumer behavioural constructs of consumer satisfaction. Although researchers have focused on the antecedents of consumer satisfaction, our integrative model has extended the outcomes of consumer behaviour on consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, this model strongly suggests a positive view of the inter‐relationships between the antecedent variables and outcome variables of satisfaction. In particular, our model is not consistent with Oliver's attribution models in which satisfaction is a consequence of attribution processing. All hypothesized variables were supported by our empirical study. The findings present a variety of guides to formulating marketing strategies for both practitioners and academics.     

Prediction of Whistleblowing or Non-reporting Observation: The Role of Personal and Situational Factors

This study examined whether it was possible to classify Australian public sector employees as either whistleblowers or non-reporting observers using personal and situational variables. The personal variables were demography (gender, public sector tenure, organisational tenure and age), work attitudes (job satisfaction, trust in management, whistleblowing propensity) and employee behaviour (organisational citizenship behaviour). The situational variables were perceived personal victimisation, fear of reprisals and perceived wrongdoing seriousness. These variables were used as predictors in a series of binary logistic regressions. It was possible to identify whistleblowers on the basis of individual initiative, whistleblowing propensity (individual and organisational), fear of reprisals, perceived wrongdoing seriousness and perceived personal victimisation. It was concluded that whistleblowers are not markedly dissimilar to non-reporting observers. Based on the two most influential variables (perceived personal victimisation and perceived wrongdoing seriousness), the average Australian public sector whistleblower is most likely to be an ordinary employee making a good faith attempt to stop what they perceived to be a serious wrongdoing that was initially identified through personal victimisation.     

Discovering the variables that influence new home‐buyer service satisfaction

While home builders traditionally think of customer service in terms of upgrades and mortgage options, home buyers are thought to view the quality of service on a much broader basis. Previous research has identified five dimensions of service quality: appearance, reliability, timeliness, knowledge, and empathy. Home‐buyer satisfaction with service quality is then the result of home builders providing services that are perceived as meeting or exceeding buyer expectations. Although much research has been done regarding home‐buyer satisfaction with service quality, there is still a gap between builders' and home buyers' perception of the quality of service. Builders need to identify and understand home‐buyer needs in order to constantly improve service quality. This paper describes an exploratory study that focused on customer satisfaction with service quality. The objective of this study was to assess the correlations between various factors on home‐buyer expectations and their perceptions of service quality. Demographics considered in this study included age, gender and household income, while transaction characteristics included purchase price, number of occupants and house size. Characteristics such as higher income, higher purchase price, and larger house size appeared to value dimensions such as reliability most highly. Characteristics such as lower income, lower purchase price and smaller house size appeared to value dimensions such as empathy and appearance most highly. Gender, age and household size did not have significant associations with expectations or relative importance, but age and household size were associated with actual perceptions of service dimensions. Understanding the influence of these variables on customer satisfaction with service quality can positively impact home builders through improved reputation and increased local referrals.