Exploring online fitness culture and young females

Abstract

While previous studies have investigated online health communities and health-seeking behaviours, less attention has been directed at the growing impact of the online fitness movement. This paper draws on the concept of biopedagogies to examine the messages transmitted within fitness culture on social networking sites (SNSs), and their role as a channel for health and fitness information. To explore this, a multi-method approach was conducted. The two methods included a netnography (online ethnography) and 22 semi-structured individual interviews with female participants aged 18–24 in Australia. The study suggests that online fitness use is becoming a popular leisure activity and source of health and fitness information. It reveals how SNSs are used as a platform to gather and teach ideas of health and fitness, and the manner in which textual and photographic online communication facilitates the social construction and transmission of this knowledge. Results indicated that although fitness accounts on SNSs offer differing notions to present alternative and competing realities, users predominantly chose to follow the normalised and dominant health discourses. Noteworthy, the onus is firmly placed on the individual within these health and fitness messages to adhere to norms of correct health practices and choices. This has connotations relevant to eHealth literacy.     

The Role of Moral Philosophies,Operational Criteria and Operational Strategies in Determining Equitable Allocation of Resources for Leisure Services in the United States

Abstract

This paper revises an earlier taxonomy of equity models that was published in this journal in 1988. This revised taxonomy consists of three elements. First, it extends the original taxonomy by proposing a set of moral philosophies, positioning them as antecedents of the operational strategies that determine equity outcomes. Six are identified: Rawlsian, egalitarianism, benefit principle, utilitarianism, libertarianism and paternal professionalism. It is suggested that communitarianism offers a philosophical basis for reconciling some of the antithetical perspectives embedded in these six moral philosophies. A second element in the taxonomy suggests the operational criterion flowing from each of the moral philosophies when it is adapted as the basis for policy decisions regarding the allocation of resources to leisure services. The third element identifies 14 operational strategies that determine equity outcomes. Their linkage to operational criteria and moral philosophies is shown. Potential equity consequences and implications of the operational strategies are illustrated and compared by use of a scenario relating the allocation of resources to park land acquisition.     

Inflation and growth: new evidence from a dynamic panel threshold analysis

We introduce a dynamic panel threshold model to estimate inflation thresholds for long-term economic growth. Advancing on Hansen (J Econom 93:345–368, 1999) and Caner and Hansen (Econom Theory 20:813–843, 2004), our model allows the estimation of threshold effects with panel data even in case of endogenous regressors. The empirical analysis is based on a large panel-dataset including 124 countries. For industrialized countries, our results confirm the inflation targets of about 2% set by many central banks. For non-industrialized countries, we estimate that inflation rates exceeding 17% are associated with lower economic growth. Below this threshold, however, the correlation remains insignificant.     

Gender,Distribution, and Balance of Payments Constrained Growth in Developing Countries

An unresolved debate in the development literature concerns the impact of gender equality on economic growth. Previous studies have found that the effect varies, depending on the measure of equality (wages or capabilities). This paper expands that discussion by considering both the short and long run, evaluating the effects of gender equality in two types of economies—semi-industrialized economies (SIEs) and low-income agricultural economies (LIAEs). Further, it incorporates gender effects on the balance of payments constraint to growth. The results suggest that gender wage and capabilities equality work in opposite directions in SIEs and in the same (positive) direction in LIAEs. In the long-run analysis, government macroeconomic management policies are shown to be necessary in order to ratify movements towards gender equality.     

Governing business process offshoring: Properties,processes, and preferred modes

This article examines an important yet understudied issue—the governance mode for business process offshoring (BPO). By applying transaction cost economics and organizational control perspective in the global BPO context, we suggest that BPO's governance mode (foreign captive, joint venture, and independent vendor) is determined by task features, such as knowledge specialization, information security, and process codifiability, and by needed process integration, horizontally between departments and units within the provider and vertically between the provider and its global client and its local subcontractor. Findings from our analysis of 308 global BPO units in India and China confirm our hypotheses.     

Are consumers' financial needs and values common across cultures? Evidence from six countries

Are consumers' financial needs, and financial values, the same or different across cultures? Two studies, with student (Study 1; n = 988) and non‐student (Study 2; n = 959) participants, explore the extent of equivalence, across six countries (Brazil, Russia, China, Taiwan, Tunisia and US), in financial need belief, and financial value, measurement models. The financial need beliefs, derived from self‐determination theory (SDT) principles, include financial self‐efficacy, financial autonomy, financial community trust and support; the financial values include materialism and financial altruism. Both the financial need and financial value constructs evidence configural invariance (similar factor structure), and factor invariance among student but not non‐student samples. The financial need constructs evidence full, and the financial value constructs evidence partial, metric (factor loading) invariance. Factor covariance invariance obtains for the financial need beliefs constructs but not the financial value constructs. Finally, neither financial need nor financial value constructs evidence scalar (intercept) invariance. These results provide partial support for extending SDT's hypothesis of universal human needs to the financial domain. In contrast, the financial value constructs of altruism and materialism are largely instable across cultures, suggesting that consumer views of giving, and the role of wealth in social status, differ between countries.     

Leaders and Laggards: The Influence of Competing Logics on Corporate Environmental Action

We study the sources of resistance to change among firms in the Canadian petroleum industry in response to a shift in societal level logics related to corporate environmental performance. Despite challenges to its legitimacy as a result of poor environmental performance, the Canadian petroleum industry was divided as to how to respond, with some members ignoring the concerns and resisting change (i.e., laggards) while others took action to ensure continued legitimacy (i.e., leaders). We examine why organizations within the same institutional field responded differently, delaying the industry response. We found that one population of firms was aligned with increasing pressures from its stakeholders for improved environmental performance, and the other was influenced by local cultural, political, and economic ideals less demanding of environmental actions. Our results reveal that several factors both at the institutional field level and the organizational level affected how these two populations reacted to a changing societal logic. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.     

Is a Picture Always Worth a Thousand Words? The Impact of Presentation Formats in Consumers' Early Evaluations of Really New Products (RNPs)

Really new products (RNPs) enable consumers to do things they have never been able to do before. However, research has shown that consumers have difficulties understanding the benefits of such novel products, and therefore, adoption intentions remain low. Mental simulations and analogies have been identified as effective framing strategies to convey the benefits of RNPs. However, existing research has focused solely on the use of mental simulations and analogies conveyed using words, whereas these can also be conveyed using pictures. Although the general consumer research literature points to a superiority effect of pictures, because the underlying mechanisms that individuals use to understand RNPs differ entirely from those used for traditional products, there is a need to study the impact of pictures for RNPs. Moreover, prior work has not examined differences in RNP type. The present research argues that RNPs can be utilitarian, hedonic, or hybrid and that the optimal presentation format (words versus pictures) is contingent upon the type of RNP considered. Consequently, failure to acknowledge this distinction could lead to negative consequences. The present study aims to identify the impact of alternative presentation formats (i.e., words versus pictures) presented using different framing strategies (i.e., analogies versus mental simulations) on individual responses (i.e., product comprehension and attitude to the product) to three types of RNPs (i.e., utilitarian versus hedonic versus hybrid). Hypotheses are tested by means of an experimental study. The results of the study show that the effectiveness of alternative combinations of framing strategies and presentation formats in enhancing comprehension and attitude for RNPs depends on product type (utilitarian versus hedonic versus hybrid). The empirical findings presented not only extend prior work on consumer responses to mental simulations and analogies for RNPs, but also establish connections between this literature and an underdeveloped stream of research on hybrid products, as well as a broader stream of research on utilitarian versus hedonic product benefits. The findings suggest that practitioners may not have been using optimal marketing communications strategies to convey the benefits of RNPs. Strategies that may help enhance consumer responses to RNPs by taking into consideration product type (utilitarian versus hedonic versus hybrid) are put forward.