Marital happiness: implications for dual career couples

Two marital myths, a woman's place is in the home and the husband is the primary wage earner or provider, were investigated in relation to marital happiness. No significant relationships were found between the variables indicating that changing lifestyles and the employment of females outside the home may be resulting in a greater equality between spouses and that women's employment does not affect marital happiness, even though job responsibilities and pressure may at times create conflict between dual career couples.     

Human Capital and Black Women's Occupational Mobility

This paper measures the contribution of human capital to the dramatic cimprovements in black women's occupational status and relative earnings since 1940, exemplified by their shift from domestic to clerical work. Logit analysis using census data from 1940-80 and CPS data from 1988 shows that improvements in African American women's human capital explains just one-sixth of their entry into clerical work. Changing labor market structures, particularly during the 1960s, appear far more important.     

International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality

We examine whether application of International Accounting Standards (IAS) is associated with higher accounting quality. The application of IAS reflects combined effects of features of the financial reporting system, including standards, their interpretation, enforcement, and litigation. We find that firms applying IAS from 21 countries generally evidence less earnings management, more timely loss recognition, and more value relevance of accounting amounts than do matched sample firms applying non‐U.S. domestic standards. Differences in accounting quality between the two groups of firms in the period before the IAS firms adopt IAS do not account for the postadoption differences. Firms applying IAS generally evidence an improvement in accounting quality between the pre‐ and postadoption periods. Although we cannot be sure our findings are attributable to the change in the financial reporting system rather than to changes in firms' incentives and the economic environment, we include research design features to mitigate effects of both.     

Pre-retirees' assessment of housing adequacy and their propensity to move

The purpose of this study is to determine how adequate pre-retirees perceived their homes would be for retirement, and their propensity to move after retirement. This study assesses the relationships between certain socio-demographic variables and feelings and plans for retirement, current housing tenure and structure conditions of the home, the anticipated adequacy of the size of the current home for retirement, and the anticipated locational decision after retirement. Three hypothesized models were tested, each succeeding model adding another level, using the above variables. The hypothesized models were tested using logistic regression. Marital status and family income are statistically significant in the prediction of current housing tenure and structure conditions. The amount of planning for retirement, assessed by the respondent in comparison to others of similar age, is a significant predictor of anticipated satisfaction with the present dwelling at retirement. Anticipated satisfaction with the present dwelling at retirement and age are statistically significant in the prediction of likelihood of moving at retirement.     

Efficient Estimates of the Total Cost of a Selection of Food Items in a Consumer Purchase Setting

The use of computers in planning consumer food purchases requires that price estimates for a selection of goods be determined in advance of the purchases. If such estimates are to be widely used, they must be accurate and inexpensive to generate. This paper describes a price estimation method which meets these criteria. The method is intended to be applied to shopping baskets of goods from any store in a community. The results of empirical tests of the method are reported which reveal support for its accuracy and ease of use.     

Food Expenditure and Nutrient Availability in Elderly Households

A model of food expenditure and nutrient consumption is developed and estimated using the data from the elderly supplemental survey to the 1977–78 USDA Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. Results provide strong evidence that elderly households make concurrent decisions on food budgets and nutritional needs. In addition to other socioeconomic and demographic factors, the Food Stamp Program has had significant impact on food expenditure and nutritional well-being of elderly households.     

Postcomplaint Processes: From Organizational Response to Repurchase Behavior

Dissatisfied consumers have the opportunity to complain, and businesses can respond to these complaints. Research into what occurs following this response has been sketchy and incomplete. This study attempts to integrate what is known about organizational response to complaints and consumer reaction to that response. A model of post-complaint processes is offered and tested using a sample of complainants who wrote to an oil company.     

Dynamics of Complaint Management in the Service Organization

While the consumer affairs and services marketing literatures recognize the importance of input from customers, little is known about how customer feedback systems might operate, particularly in dealing with customer complaints. This paper offers an information processing model of the complaint information flow within the organization and poses hypotheses based on the suggested model. A new field study technique using a type of network analysis is used to empirically test hypotheses and discover barriers and facilitators to the flow of communications. The study provides insight concerning how complaint information flows through the organization after it has been received by a customer contact employee. The results provide support for the thesis that the role of complaint handler and manager in providing the service is at least as important as the role of the customer contact employee.     

Consumer Perceptions of Health Claims in Advertisements and on Food Labels

It has been hypothesized that consumers are more skeptical of health claims made in food ads than of health claims made on food labels. Therefore, the current research explores consumers' skepticism of health claims when the source of such claims is identified as a food ad or a food label. The study also examines whether consumers' beliefs are affected by nutrition information on food labels and whether health claims that have been challenged by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and by consumer groups are more likely to affect consumers' beliefs than are unchallenged health claims. The findings have implications for understanding the role of education in reducing consumer misperceptions of health claims.