Non-Demographic versus Demographic Determinants of “Buy Domestic” Activities in Two Nations

Abstract

Multiple regression analysis of survey data from the U.S. and Portugal demonstrates that certain demographics make a moderate contribution to explaining Buy Domestic behavior. However, explanation of these reported purchase-related activities is greatly increased by adding constructs suggested by helping research, based on the premise that some purchasers buy domestic products to help domestic workers whose jobs are threatened by imported products. For both nations, the results show Buy Domestic activities increase with purchasers' older age, greater perceived empathy regarding threatened workers, and greater exposure to social norms that support helping. For the U.S. only, Buy Domestic purchase also increases with female gender and decreases with higher perceived costs of helping. For Portugal only, it increases with greater perceived ability to help the workers and stronger solidarity with the national in-group. These findings hold important implications for Buy Domestic marketers.     

Issues of employment portfolios in Japanese retail businesses

Abstract

The employment portfolio of Japanese retail businesses is composed of regular employees and part-time workers. Even though part-time workers are assigned to significant jobs, their wages tend to be lower than those of regular employees. However, the job satisfaction and motivation of part-time workers are not low. This article aims to consider why part-time workers have a positive attitude toward their jobs. Data were collected from part-time workers of retail businesses (n?=?1133). The specific focus is on two groups: part-time workers compared to regular employees and part-time workers compared to other part-time workers. Results showed that the group compared to part-time workers had more positive job attitude than others. From the point of view of social comparison, the job attitude of part-time workers may differ depending on the choice of who they compare themselves against. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Formalization,Role Stress,Commitment, and Work Outcomes: An Empirical Analysis of South Korean Workers

ABSTRACT

Using 3005 Korean blue-collar workers and 1159 white-collar workers, this study empirically examined the linkage among formalization, role stress, organizational commitment, and work outcomes. Results suggest that organizational formalization perceived by Korean workers, both white-collar and blue-collar, positively affects role ambiguity and role conflict which, in turn, negatively influence Korean workers' organizational commitment. The results also suggest a direct linkage between commitment and effort for Korean workers. The Confucian cultural influence on Korean workers and unique corporate culture that can help explain the linkages are discussed in depth.     

White Castle

Summary

Billy Ingram is the acknowledged father of American fast food. This article describes how, through White Castle system, Ingram created a whole new industry, an industry that employs millions of workers and accounts for billions in sales.     

Supermarket Shoppers' Response to Mature Models in Point-of-Purchase Displays

Abstract

Point-of-purchase advertising influences up to 70 percent of purchases in supermarkets (Bauer 1995). Based on the increased attention to including more older models in promotional materials in recognition of the aging population and the potential socialization effects of promotional tools, an experiment was conducted to assess the impact of older point-of-purchase display models on younger shoppers in a supermarket display. The results indicate that retailers' and manufacturers' fears of alienating younger shoppers if older models are used are largely unfounded. Managerial implications are provided.     

Being Arab and American: Understanding Ethnocentric Tendencies for Arab American Consumers

ABSTRACT

Scant research exists on Arab Americans' ethnocentric tendencies towards purchasing American-made products. This study explores the nexus among consumer ethnocentrism, empathy towards local workers, and ethnic identification. We examined ethnic identification, patriotism, dogmatism, and internationalism as potential influences on Arab Americans' ethnocentric tendencies towards purchasing products made in the US. Data were collected from 165 Arab Americans living in Michigan. We found that when Arab consumers felt empathic towards local workers, they were more ethnocentric towards purchasing local products. Arab Americans' ethnic identification neither influenced their ethnocentric tendencies towards American-made products nor their empathic feelings towards American workers. Our study provides key contributions related to minorities' preferences for locally made products.     

Foreign direct investment and wage differentials in Taiwan

Abstract

The ease of restrictions on foreign direct investment in China since 1990 has attracted a continuous and dramatic flow of outward investment from Taiwan to the mainland. At the same time, the relative wages for skilled workers in Taiwan have risen mildly despite a rapid increase in the share of educated workers in its labor market. The aim of this paper is to explore the linkage between capital outflows to China and the wage share of skilled workers in Taiwan over the period 1991 – 2001. We find that the pattern of changes in relative wages is consistent with shifts in the relative demand for skilled labor. For the most part, the increases in the relative demand for skilled workers could be attributable to within-industry factors. Findings also indicate that outward direct investment to China has a significantly positive impact on the skilled labor wage share.     

The Challenges That Face Restaurants in Attracting and Meeting the Needs of the Mature Customer

Abstract

The physiological and psychological changes that older customers experience demand a more sedulous look by restaurants in order to better understand the wants and needs of this consumer. This paper discusses factors that affect appetite and nutrition of older customers and obstacles that inhibit their restaurant patronage. The paper provides ways of addressing these issues to attract this segment of the population and increase the quality of their dining experience.     

Multinational mining companies,employment and knowledge transfer: Chile and Norway from ca. 1870 to 1940

Abstract

This article compares employment at multinational mining companies in Chile and Norway from ca. 1870 to 1940. I find that multinationals in Chile recruited foreigners to managing and middle-management positions, while Norwegian workers were heavily involved in management of multinationals in Norway. The exclusion of Chileans encouraged enclave tendencies and prevented knowledge transfer, while strong networks were created between multinationals and the local industry in Norway through job switching. Evidence suggests that local workers were employed if they were qualified and that discrepancies in institutions stimulating capacity building in the two countries largely explain the different employment patterns.     

The Impact of Occupation on Responses to Positive and Negative Framing

Abstract

Recently, there has been a great deal of controversy around negative advertising. In this paper we examine the impact of negative as compared to positive frames for people in different occupations. For the product category of video cameras, using an experimental design, we found that occupation does indeed moderate the impact of positive and negative frames. While there is no difference in their effect for professionals, positive frames are more effective for social workers and blue collar workers. Here we focused not only on responses to the ads, but also to the brand and on purchase intent. The implications for marketing strategy are discussed.     

Career aspirations of older workers: An Australian study

Global challenges associated with the ageing workforce include lower levels of education and negative attitudes of older workers towards learning and covert age discrimination in the workplace. This report discusses initial findings from a survey of older workers employed in regional areas in Australia. The older workers surveyed were predominantly blue collar with low levels of formal education. Contrary to the stereotypical views, there were few attitude differences between older (>40 years) and younger workers (≤40 years). However, gender, education level and job type had a greater impact on attitudes in the older workers when compared to their younger colleagues.     

The Sunrise Economy: 24-hour Drinking Legislation in Leeds

ABSTRACT

As the growth of the public houses has become static within the UK the government has been looking at different ways in which they can strategically expand the market, of which one is the 24-hour drinking legislation.

The 24-hour drinking legislation has been operative in the United Kingdom for just over one year now and this article looks at how a chain of public houses has adopted this legislation into their day-to-day running of the business. The paper also discusses the types of consumer's who frequent the public houses at the new trading times and in particular, with the aid of consumer behaviour theory and in particular the PIECE model, discusses the process in which these consumer's go through.

The main conclusions denote that shift workers, the unemployed, and blue collar workers all use these premises at the new trading times.     

Shadow price of working in the shadows: services industry evidence

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we use an exogenous policy variation in the labour market to determine the wage gap between formally and informally employed workers. For our purposes, ‘informal employment’ describes employees who are not officially registered with any social security scheme. We use self-reported employee registration status to identify such workers, but the choice of working unregistered is not exogenous. Nevertheless, through an amnesty that was extended to only some workers in the labour market, we reduce the endogeneity problem, enabling estimation of the wage gap between these two groups. Our two-stage least square estimates reveal that the hourly wage penalty of working in the shadows is as high as 59%, and the monthly salary penalty is around 66%. Moreover, the wage gap is higher (as high as 70%) for those working in the services sector, as unregistered workers in this sector tend to be low skilled and low educated, and the monitoring of this sector is more difficult. Our analysis contributes to the literature by using an instrumental variable to treat the endogeneity of workers’ registration status. In addition, it shows that people working informally in the services industry receive a higher average wage penalty than other informally employed workers.     

Exploring the impact of packaging interactions on quality of life among older consumers

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the concept of consumer vulnerability in the context of older consumers’ packaging interactions. Consumer vulnerability is viewed as a situational state of powerlessness where marketplace imbalances or harm may occur from consuming marketing messages and/or products. The paper draws upon evidence from a series of in-depth interviews and observations with a cross section of 11 consumers aged between 59 and 85 years concerning their experiences with fast-moving consumer goods packaging. The findings reveal that changes as a result of the multiple dimensions of ageing can increase older consumers’ risk of experiencing vulnerability during packaging interactions. The paper provides new insights to aid firms in empowering older consumers through packaging development, thus reducing vulnerability.     

Living arrangements and fire-related mortality amongst older people in Europe

Abstract

In Europe, a demographic transition has occurred meaning that countries have larger older adult populations who are increasingly living alone and receiving homecare rather than institutional care. Given that living alone is the greatest individual risk factor for fire mortality amongst older adults and that large differences exist in terms of both fire mortality risk and living arrangements between countries, this study investigates the association between co-living rates and fire mortality rates among older adults in Europe. Freely available datasets with aggregated European data on fire mortality, living arrangements among older adults, population statistics and GDP were analyzed using Poisson regression models. The results show that fire-related mortality rates amongst older adults in Europe is correlated with living arrangements after adjusting for GDP. Specifically, in Europe, when the share of older adults living alone increases by one percentage point, fire mortality rates increase by roughly 4 percent for both sexes.     

Household survey evidence on domestic workers in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

Whilst much scholarly attention of this nascent field of domestic service work focuses on protecting the rights and security of foreign/migrant domestic workers, the nature of domestic service work undertaken within national borders has escaped the attention of both researchers and public policy makers. Outlining the findings from a large household survey data in Ethiopia collected from seven major urban areas covering the period from 1994 to 2004, this paper departs from the usual focus on rights-based perspective and foreign migrant domestic service workers. Instead, the paper attempts to contribute to our understanding of the profile of domestic service providers, the significant drivers of participation in the provision of domestic services and the welfare of unpaid and paid domestic service workers in Ethiopia. In doing so, the paper contributes to the development of a greater evidence base, relevant for both researchers and public policy practitioners alike.     

Elderly Latinos in the U.S.: What Do They Know and Think About HIV/AIDS?

ABSTRACT

Previous research on efforts to change health related behaviors indicates that such change may be affected by an individual's knowledge and attitudes, sense of self-efficacy and of susceptibility, and the norms of his or her reference group. This paper presents results from analysis of responses to the National Health Interview Survey's questions about AIDS knowledge, attitudes, susceptibility and behavior, comparing older Latinos both to older non-Latino Americans and to younger Latinos. Data from the NHIS 1994 survey is analyzed; questions on AIDS knowledge and attitudes are investigated and the effects of age and ethnicity are compared.

The results demonstrate significant differences by ethnicity and age. While substantial majorities of all groups know the basic information about HIV transmission, of the four, older Latinos have the highest proportion of people with some inaccurate information.     

Worldwide Evolution of Channels Policy

Abstract

This article outlines the evolution of marketing channel systems and policies in selected regions around the world, less developed as well as developed countries are covered. It then delineates sectors worth researching, given the influence of globalization and the speed of technological advance. The societal impact of these problem areas cannot be ignored, as they are significant. From the viewpoints of the consumer and society, the decrease in small shops and the concentration of retailing might have negative effects; such as increased unemployment coupled with lower personal service offerings. This article further suggests that policy makers should pay attention to the ‘Digital Divide.’ The technological skills required to work effectively in the ‘Digital Age’ are separating skilled workers from others. It may not be possible to retrain significant numbers of other workers for many of the ‘new economy’ professions. However, society and employment may benefit if many of these non-skilled workers remain in or enter small channel service occupations.     

Retaining and engaging older workers: A solution to worker shortages in the U.S.

Over the next 20 years, many organizations will experience significant shortages of skilled workers. At the same time, because of longer lifespans and a gradual rise in what society has considered the traditional retirement age of 65, older workers will represent a growing proportion of the American workforce. For a variety of reasons, many of these older workers desire to continue working and, if retained and engaged, they constitute a significant labor source for mitigating the emerging shortages of skilled workers. However, many organizations are not prepared to take advantage of this demographic shift; some even generate barriers that impede the retention and engagement of older workers. In this article, we identify a variety of ways in which organizations can retain and engage older workers to meet their staffing needs and enhance organizational performance. We also discuss the relationship of these proposals to prominent theories of motivation in management.     

What Affects New and Established Firms’ Expansion? Evidence from Small Firms in Russia

Research on financial constraints of very small firms is scarce because it is difficult to observe and measure their transactions. Previous studies on small enterprises in post-communist countries have focused either on the effect of financing constraints on business growth (Budina et al., 2000, Economics of Transition 8(2), 453–475; Bratkowski et al., 2000, Economics of Transition 8(1), 101–116) or on the effect of property rights (Johnson et al., 2002, American Economic Review 92(5), 1335–1357). This paper provides evidence on both. It turns out that financing constraints and property rights considerations affects investment in firms of different age differently. Younger firms face higher information costs and their expansion is more dependent on the availability of internal funds than is the expansion of older firms. This paper also finds that while the financial sector did not channel funds to the most successful businesses, there is evidence that loans were given to firms that had more transparent transactions. Results also indicate that the security of property rights does not influence investment in young firms, which is interpreted to mean that only the most efficient entrepreneurs entered the market. In older small firms, investment is negatively influenced by the index of security of property rights suggesting that these firms might have “secured” their property rights by bribes. Improvements in the security of property rights, therefore, would help more micro enterprises to be born as well as decrease transaction cost of established enterprises.