Nine-nation typology: application to adolescent time use

In The Nine Nations of North America Garreau¹ argues that the North American continent is not so much three countries as it is nine distinctly different cultural regions. The purpose of this research was to compare the time use of North American adolescents by these regions of residence in North America. The time spent in household work, school work and leisure was consistently explained by the weekday/weekend variable and urban/rural area of residence. An interaction between the weekday variable and North American region of residence in the model for time spent in leisure activities may indicate some significant differences.     

Husbands' and wives' household work: moving towards egalitarianism?

Whether husbands are increasing their time in household tasks, especially when their wives are employed, has been a topic of debate in recent years. Several studies have found that husbands are participating in more child care now than in the past. But are husbands also doing other tasks now? Is there any relationship between the amounts of time that husbands and wives allocate to various household tasks? Are there any weekday versus weekend differences? A small sample of husbands and wives recorded their time spent in various activities for 7 consecutive days. The findings reveal that wives spent more time in general doing household tasks than did their husbands. Employed wives and their husbands both decreased their total time in household work, compared with full-time homemakers and their husbands. At weekends, however, both employed wives and homemakers decreased their overall time in household work while the husbands increased theirs. The t-test revealed that at weekends there were no significant differences in the times allocated to various household tasks by employed wives and their husbands, and significant differences only in time spent in child care and food preparation/clean-up by homemakers and their spouses. There appears to be a more egalitarian approach by husbands and wives to household tasks at weekends than on weekdays, even when the wives are not employed. Although these findings should not be generalized to the population, they indicate an intriguing possible trend which deserves further investigation.     

Rural-urban differentials in children's household production time

This research examined the amount of time rural and urban children spent in household production activities, and several demographic factors related to that time use. Data were obtained from a multi-state family time-use survey, NE-113 ‘Use of Time in Rural and Urban Families’. Home interviews were conducted with 2,100 families in II states. The sample consisted of 1,045 rural children and 1,026 urban children, aged 6–17. The hypothesis, that the differentials in time spent in household production by rural and urban children will be due to assignment of tasks by sex, was confirmed. Boys spent similar amounts of time in housework regardless of place of residence, while rural girls spent more time than urban girls.     

The application of a repeated-measures design to a Malaysian time-use study

A repeated-measures design is suggested for use when analysing time-use data to correct for errors found in the test of significance due to ‘repeated’ use of subjects. The results indicate that there is no difference in a wife's time spent on the majority of household activities between 2 consecutive diary days.     

Explaining Gender Differences in Housework Time in Germany

This study evaluates couples’ time use behaviour with regard to housework in Germany with data from the 2001/2002 and 1991/1992 German Time Use Survey. Despite the fact that women reduced their hours worked within the household context over the past decades, the unequal division of housework between men and women still persists. This study aims both at analysing the determinants of the allocation of time spent on housework, as well as why gender differences in household time use behaviour still exist. With the aid of structural equation modelling, it is shown that the decrease in time spent on housework by women can largely be explained by changes in the effects that wages, household goods consumption and the aspiration for market goods consumption have on time spent on housework. Men’s time allocation behaviour has remained remarkably constant. It is also observed that women’s time allocation behaviour with regard to household work is becoming more similar to that of men.     

Determinants of Fresh and Frozen Fruit and Vegetable Expenditures in Turkish Households: A Bivariate Tobit Model Approach

In this study, we have identified the effects of socio-demographic and economic factors of household heads and households on monthly expenditures of fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable in Turkey using the bivariate Tobit model. The results show that both the probability and monthly spending levels of household fruit and vegetable consumption increase with increasing in age of household heads, educational levels of household heads, married household heads, household income, and the number of adults in a family, while male-headed households, working household heads, the households that receive in-kind help from the government or private sector, and the use of internet at home decrease both the likelihood and spending levels of fruit and vegetable consumption in Turkey. The results in the study may contribute to the stakeholders to identify and implement effective marketing strategies and also develop more effective policies for the government to improve nutritional levels for certain dwellings for which the government include them in the certain state-initiated benefit program.     

Family resources related to wife's time inputs to housework

This study investigates the relationship of family resources to the wife's time spent in housework. Safilios-Rothschild's inventory of resources was used as a guide in selecting variables to understand utility maximization in time use. Results indicate that the number of hours the wife spent in housework increased as the number of hours spent working outside the home decreased, family size increased and her perception that income was adequate decreased. More time also was spent if she had a chronic health condition which worried her. Implications discussed included those for further research to investigate the relationship of sex roles to housework attitudes and behaviours.     

Characterisation and comparison of gender-specific utility functions of shopping duration episodes

This paper reports the results of an analysis of gender differences in the parameters of utility functions derived from activity duration data. The estimated utility functions allow a comparison of the marginal utility, inflection point and the (a)symmetry of the utility of activity duration. Some significant differences between men and women are found. The results of the analyses indicate that the utility that men and women derive from basic in-home leisure activities is more or less the same. Gender differences were found for out-of-home activities, including grocery and non-grocery shopping activities.     

Work hard or play hard: the effect of leisure crafting on opportunity recognition and venture performance

Given the challenges inherent in starting companies, investigation of how entrepreneurs use their time at work to develop ventures has received prominent attention by scholars. We argue that how entrepreneurs use their leisure time has not received commensurate scrutiny. Leisure crafting, the proactive pursuit of particular leisure activities for specific goals, could play an important role in the entrepreneurial process. Herein, we develop and test a theoretical model describing how leisure crafting among entrepreneurs affects opportunity recognition and venture performance. Using three studies we provide strong evidence that leisure crafting positively relates to opportunity recognition and venture performance, which is mediated by thriving at work and moderated by work task focus. These findings provide generative insights into the nature of leisure and the micro-processes that drive entrepreneurship.     

Money resources,time demands,and situational factors as predictors of shopping time

Shopping is a major household activity; time spent shopping has opportunity costs. Linder proposed that, as income rose, time would be allocated away from shopping to more productive activities, resulting in purchase deciriom being made with less information. This paper tests money resources, time demands and situational and demographic factors as predictors of shopping time. Data from 420 family time schedules and accompanying questionnaires were analysed using Tobit analysis. Findings indicated that situational factors were the best predictors of shopping time; money resources and time-demand factors had limited predictive power; and time allocated to shopping was quite inelastic. Conclusions and implications are drawn.     

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.     

A PRELIMINARY TEST OF A FAMILY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH MODEL

The conceptual frameworks of family management attempt to explain family behaviour with respect to management activities. However, rigorous empirical tests concerning the validity of these frameworks have not yet been conducted due to a number of unresolved research issues such as the measurement of concepts, data collection and research modelling specifications. This paper attempts to perform a preliminary empirical test of a research model based on the conceptual frameworks in family management. Satisfactions with eleven types of family outputs were examined in relation to a family's input conditions and throughput activities. Throughput activities as a group were found to contribute significantly to the family's satisfaction with the cleanliness of the house. Planning activities, decisionmaking styles and time spent in household production were important in explaining satisfaction with many of the outputs studied. The results of this preliminary test of the management research model demonstrate the need to collect better and relevant data and to develop improved measures of the management concepts so that a full and rigorous test of the family management frameworks can be properly performed. Other research issues such as simultaneity and functional form could then be addressed.     

Time as a Direct Source of Utility: The Case of Price Information Search for Groceries

A “joint production” model that combines aspects of household production and the economics of information is formulated to explain variation in time spent in price information search for groceries by dual earner households. Enjoyment of search time, a psychological variable, is incorporated into the model. Empirical estimation using grocery expenditure data indicates that enjoyment, income, age, the price of search time, presence of young and teenage children, daily use of a microwave oven, and the percentage of a market basket filled with name brand items are significant factors in explaining variation in time spent in price information search.     

Fathers' participation in infant-care

Ordinary least squares multiple regression was used to model time spent in child-care by 107 fathers of infants, 3–10 months of age. Time in both physical and non-physical care activities was reported by fathers for a weekday. Number of years married, hours employed for pay the previous week, and fathers' stress score in the child domain were negatively related to time spent in infant-care.     

Trade-Offs Between Purchased Services and Time in Single-Parent and Two-Parent Families

This research examines the influence of marital status on the demand for services using a model in which the demand for market services and mothers' time spent in related household activities are jointly determined. Three specific areas of market services are investigated: meals prepared away from home, child care, and housekeeping. In multivariate systems analyses in which mothers' household work time and purchased services were simultaneously determined, families headed by single mothers were found to (a) purchase more meals prepared away from home and (b) be more likely to purchase child care and housekeeping services than their two-parent counterparts holding income and other factors constant.     

Satisfaction with household production: the effect of time spent in household production by husbands and wives

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between the extent of household production and satisfaction with household production. Data were obtained from 400 married couples who responded to a postal questionnaire. The dependent variable was an index of satisfaction incorporating two aspects of household production, quality and quantity. Regression analysis indicated that of the three variables representing the extent of household production in the model — hours spent by each spouse in household production and an activity index to measure the number of household production activities — only husband's hours spent in household production demonstrated a significant, independent effect. Other significant variables included husband's hours of market work, household net worth, age of respondent and gender of respondent. Two significant interactions indicated that (i) the relationship between wife's hours of household production and satisfaction with household production differed according to the gender of the respondent, and (ii) the relationship of husband's hours of market work and satisfaction differed according to the age of the respondent.     

In search of leisure time: An endogenous growth model with leisure services

Starting from the Ladrón‐de Guevara et al.’s framework, we develop a model with an additional sector for the production of leisure services. By introducing consumption of leisure services as a time‐consuming activity, our model generalizes the standard time allocation problem whereby total available time can be allocated between work, education, free time and leisure activities. We analytically characterize the balanced growth paths of the model, particularly in terms of time allocation and growth. Our comparative analysis of different service economies assumed at equilibrium includes the case of an industrial economy without a service sector and the potential multiple equilibria of such an economy.     

The Use of Telephone Directories as a Sample Frame: Patterns of Bias Revisited

A study was undertaken to reassess the utility of using telephone directories as a sample frame. A survey research unit within the Genesee County Health Department of Flint, Michigan, randomly sampled 1,031 households from the city of Flint using a complete listing of dwellings within the city as a universe. In addition to the normal interview schedule used, households were given a supplemental questionnaire on telephone service. The adult household respondent was asked if the household had a telephone and, if not, why. If the household had a telephone the respondent was asked if the number was listed in a phone directory or not. If the phone was unlisted, the respondent was asked why. The results were quite similar to those found by past research. There were a number of statistically dependent relationships found between whether or not households had listed or unlisted phones and various characteristics of household heads as well as other household features. It is concluded that using a telephone directory as a sample frame may lead to a significant sampling bias. Telephone sampling can still be a useful marketing tool if random digit dialing is used. This latter suggestion is briefly discussed.     

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES—FOR THE BENEFIT OF CONSUMERS OR PRODUCERS?

Two hypotheses are presented on the basis of the consumerist and private enterprise points of view of technical development of household appliances: H₁: maintaining or increasing sales of household appliances by product development can be done regardless of, or even conflicting with, consumer needs. H₂: maintaining or increasing sales of household appliances can only be done by developing products that satisfy consumer needs. To test these hypotheses the concept of utility has to be defined operationally. Assuming that household appliances are bought to be used according to their functions, utility is defined as use frequency and way of using. Using data from a Norwegian survey on the purchase and use of electric ranges and sewing machines, it is shown that all equipment studied is used frequently and correctly by too many respondents to declare them generally without utility. But for each device there was quite a large share of the respondents who did not use it. The hypothesis that products cannot be sold to consumers who do not need them, is thus rejected. The causes of the problem as well as possible means of solving it are discussed.     

Household production: beyond the economic perspective

The effects on the family of an environment which places high value on economic productivity are considered. The paper emphasizes the importance of the social productivity of families, the management processes which contribute to improvements in economic and social productivity, and the importance of maintaining the social-psychological perspective in family economics. The discussion outlines the resource and value contexts in which household production and its resulting family productivity are evaluated, the various dimensions of family productivity, and the integrative management processes which mobilize resources for conscious achievement of desired quality of life. Social productivity differs from economic productivity in its emphasis on the development of human resources attributes, effectiveness rather than efficiency, process more than product, quality more than quantity, and group rather than individual orientation. The innovative, creative problem-solving process is contrasted to the economic decision process by application to the role and value conflict situations and divergent problems in families. The importance of going beyond the economic perspective of household production in understanding family productivity is essential for scholars of the family.