A netnographic sensibility: developing the netnographic/social listening boundaries

Netnography is constantly evolving as technologies and access to online data develop. Our paper outlines how large data sets of social media can be analysed through bridging the divide between the small, rich and contextually nuanced data that is the hallmark of netnography and the scope and scale of data made possible through social media listening conventions. We define this approach as netnographic sensibility and with the use of a short case study discuss the process through which social media data could be gathered, triangulated and analysed. We orientate the paper around two interrelated questions: investigating how netnographic insights can be extended using social media monitoring tools, and asking how this can be used to add richness and depth to understanding mass consumer realities. Our contribution complements the widely established methodological approach of netnography as we argue that netnography has the capacity and capability to embrace technological advances within the domain of social listening to add value for academic researchers.     

'High-performance' Management Practices, Working Hours and Work–Life Balance

The effects of selected high‐performance practices and working hours on work–life balance are analysed with data from national surveys of British employees in 1992 and 2000. Alongside long hours, which are a constant source of negative job‐to‐home spillover, certain ‘high‐performance’ practices have become more strongly related to negative spillover during this period. Surprisingly, dual‐earner couples are not especially liable to spillover — if anything, less so than single‐earner couples. Additionally, the presence of young children has become less important over time. Overall, the results suggest a conflict between high‐performance practices and work‐life balance policies.     

Multiple-objective methods in regulatory decision making: A conceptual framework applied to U.S. automobile safety standards

Public policy making is a complex matter. Policy makers are charged with balancing a broad spectrum of competing objectives, reflecting in varying degrees the interests and aspirations of a diverse range of constituencies and stakeholders. Policy decisions have differential impacts on differing constituencies and the contributions of these impacts to objectives are frequently uncertain, difficult to quantify, and hotly disputed. Formal methods of decision analysis have been advanced as aids for coping with complexity and have been applied to some public policy issues, most notably the management of water resources. While formal methods have the apparent benefit of rationalizing the policy process and improving the efficacy and equity of policy decisions, serious questions remain concerning the acceptability and ultimate usefulness of formal analyses in the public arena. In this article we examine these questions in the context of policy making relating to government regulation of automobile designs for safety. We consider what would be involved in attempting to use a relatively modern, multiple-objective approach in this context. The key questions are how and, more importantly, why multiple-objective methods might be used. The article begins with an illustrative case study, describes the current policymaking process, identifies the parties involved in and affected by this process, elicits key objectives, looks briefly at some scalar-objective approaches, and then outlines a multiple-objective approach. The framework developed arguably is useful in assisting policy making, at least at a qualitative level. Issues which impede a more quantitative resolution of this framework are discussed. This article is intended as a pilot study which may promote research toward the achievement of a useable multiple-objective procedure applicable in the public domain.     

A Structural Model of Leisure Constraints Negotiation in Outdoor Recreation

A conceptual model tested the leisure constraints negotiation process of outdoor recreation: motivation and the constraints to participate likely influenced by negotiation efforts. Higher motivation to participate encourages using negotiation strategies and resources to overcome constraints. Experiencing constraints was thought to trigger negotiation efforts. Drawing from social cognitive theory, negotiation-efficacy was proposed to encourage motivation, diminish the perception of constraints and promote negotiation efforts, which indirectly influenced positive participation. The model tested used data collected from a random sample of Arizona residents through hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results support the conceptual model and suggest the constraints negotiation process is a dynamic interaction of influences promoting outdoor recreation participation.     

Profiling exporting and nonexporting service firms: Critical differences to decision-makers

The internationalization of services has become a critical element in the global marketplace. While the internationalization of services has increased in importance, the lack of empirically based research has been a shortcoming. This article empirically examines key characteristics (i.e., total sales, number of employees, age of firm, management's desire to export, perceived profit potential from internationalization, top management's foreign language skills, and international work experience) separating exporting from nonexporting domestic-based service firms. It provides a profile for the exporting service firm that is distinctly different than that of the nonexporting service provider. These differences suggest important policy considerations for federal and state export promotion agencies and strategy considerations for service firm owners and management. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Restricted electricity use among poor urban households

For a variety of reasons, this article argues, electricity must be seen by policy‐makers in South Africa not as the sole provider of all future household energy needs, but rather as one component of an energy mix which includes such ‘transitional’ fuels as coal, gas and paraffin. The reasons for this are that electricity is expensive for poor households; it is subject to power failures and disconnections for non‐payment; the poor find it difficult to monitor and to control their consumption; appliances are expensive and several are required to make best use of electricity; people prefer other fuels because they are familiar and have strong personal and cultural associations, and because Eskom is not trusted owing to its past ties to illegitimate local authorities and misunderstanding of electricity and how its use is monitored and charged for. Further, it is mistaken to equate ‘development’ with total electrification: most developed countries have fuel mixes which include gas and coal, particularly for cooking and heating. Accepting an affordable fuel mix for the poor in particular would focus attention on the problems currently associated with paraffin, gas and coal, namely fires, poisoning and air pollution.     

Then and Now: Examining Older People's Engagement in Outdoor Recreation Across the Life Course

Outdoor recreation provides a range of health and wellbeing benefits and facilitates engagement with natural environments. We explore older people's participation in outdoor recreation throughout their lives to examine how past experiences shape engagement later in life. A qualitative life history approach, consisting of semi-structured interviews and a focus group in three place-specific (urban, rural, and small town coastal) case studies in Scotland, was adopted. Thematic analysis revealed ways in which childhood experiences shaped adult engagement and highlighted life course transitions where behaviour change was most pronounced. Place and gender were considered as factors which may affect responses. Participants identified the points of getting married, becoming a parent, children entering adolescence, retirement, the onset of disabilities or ill health, and the death of others as “moments of change” in the extent and/or form of their outdoor recreation. The findings highlight potential for targeted interventions to promote outdoor recreation throughout life.     

Monitoring Job Search as an Instrument For Targeting Transfers

Redistribution programs are constrained because those not working may be either unable to work, voluntarily unemployed or involuntarily unemployed. The inability to distinguish among these three cases inhibits the targeting of transfers to those most in need. Enabling the government to monitor whether unemployed individuals are searching for work and accepting any offered jobs increases its ability to redistribute income. We show that these monitoring activities are complementary, and consider how a minimum wage might be a useful adjunct to monitoring contingent tax-transfer policies.