Search

Purpose: Research-based knowledge on homecare nursing is scarce and further information is warranted about citizens' perceptions of receiving home care under existing conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate citizen experiences with health-care professionals in the time allotted for home care. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was distributed to 348 citizens receiving home care. The questionnaire consisted of questions whether the citizens experienced that enough time was available during the homecare visit and how the conversation and care relationship with the health-care professionals were experienced. The differences in responses were analysed using Fisher's Exact Tests. Findings: Overall, 94% of the citizens reported that sufficient time had been available and that care relationship and conversation with the health-care professionals had been positive during the homecare visit. However, the findings indicated that citizens aged more than +76 years and citizens with a high educational level were more prone to report that the nurses did not spend enough time during the home visit. Originality/value: The findings offer useful insights for the professionals in delivering appropriate home care. Listening to citizens' wishes and needs for home care could lead to better individualised care. Especially the youngest and oldest of the citizens seem to have specific experiences that call for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Personality characteristics have a significant impact on the economic segment of women entrepreneurs. Due to gender biases or other factors, women entrepreneurs are fewer in India than in other countries. The purpose of this study is to identify the personality factors and challenges that affect their growth and success. Design/methodology/approach: Logistic regression was used to show the impact of personality characteristics and firm performance and the moderating effect of challenges between personality characteristics and firm performance. Findings: The findings revealed a significant impact of personality factors on firm performance, the absence of moderating effects of challenges and the presence of a mediation effect of enterprise age and enterprise location. Research limitations/implications: This research will help policymakers adopt policies and plans to reduce obstacles and challenges so that the economic conditions of women's entrepreneurship can transform. Social implications: Women in the 21st century still live in a male-dominated patriarchal society because they face the problem of financial capital. Originality/value: The results show the impact of personality traits and challenges on the firm performance of women's entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Among the gold standards in human resource development (HRD) research are studies that test theoretically developed hypotheses and use experimental designs. A somewhat typical experimental design would involve collecting pretest and posttest data on individuals assigned to a control or experimental group. Data from such a design that considered if training made a difference in knowledge, skills or attitudes, for example, could help advance practice. Using simulated datasets, situated in the example of a scenario-planning intervention, this paper aims to show that choosing a data analysis path that does not consider the associated assumptions can misrepresent findings and resulting conclusions. A review of HRD articles in a select set of journals indicated that some researchers reporting on pretest-posttest designs with two groups were not reporting associated statistical assumptions and reported results from repeated-measures analysis of variance that are considered of minimal utility.Design/methodology/approach Using heuristic datasets, situated in the example of a scenario-planning intervention, this paper will show that choosing a data analysis path that does not consider the associated assumptions can misrepresent findings and resulting conclusions. Journals in the HRD field that conducted pretest-posttest control group designs were coded.Findings The authors' illustrations provide evidence for the importance of testing assumptions and the need for researchers to consider alternate analyses when assumptions fail, particularly the homogeneity of regression slopes assumption.Originality/value This paper provides guidance to researchers faced with analyzing data from a pretest-posttest control group experimental design, so that they may select the most parsimonious solution that honors the ecological validity of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Despite USA’s emphasis on children as consumers with great spending power, little is known about their actual spending preferences and how they might be linked to personal character traits such as materialism and gratitude. This study aims to address this literature gap by examining children’s spending preferences in an imaginary windfall scenario, as well as main and interactive effects of materialism and gratitude on such preferences.Design/methodology/approach This was a school-based research study. Survey methodology was used in which self-report measures were collected from 247 7-14-year-old children (58 per cent male).Findings Results suggest that materialism was significantly associated with saving resources and allocating less money to charity. Gratitude was related to more charitable giving. One interactive effect was found whereby the link between more materialism and saving was attenuated by high levels of gratitude. Contrary to expectations, no age or gender differences in spending preferences or materialism were found, but older children and girls reported higher gratitude than did younger children and boys.Research limitations/implications Although cross-sectional data limit conclusions regarding directionality, the results have implications for understanding children’s consumer behavior, as well as children’s well-being, self-regulation and ability to delay gratification.Practical implications The results suggest that materialism, with its emphasis on consumption, and gratitude, with its positive feedback loop that encourages prosocial connections, are particularly relevant avenues to continue examining in future research on youth consumer patterns.Social implications Gratitude not only promotes social connectedness but also is more environmentally sustainable in promoting appreciation for what one has rather than wanting more. Uncovering ways that these characteristics are linked to hypothetical and, ultimately, actual spending behavior reflects a meaningful contribution to the field.Originality/value This paper fills gaps in the literature by examining links between specific character traits and potential spending behaviors, with deeper implications for children’s psychosocial development, self-regulation and environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose After the initial life (which coincides with the origins of social research in the 1850s, and lasts until 1940s), mixed methods revive at the beginning of 1970s. However, this second life (or renaissance) receives the deleterious imprinting of quantitative methods. In fact, some of the old positivist assumptions are still reproduced and active in most of mixed methods research. This imprinting is traceable in the ambiguity (and purposive semantic stretching) of the term “qualitative”: from the 1990s, it encompasses almost everything (even approaches considered positivistic in the 1950s!). Whereby the semantical extension of the term “qualitative” has become a sort of Trojan horse for a new legitimation of many quantitative and positivist researchers: a great swindle. Today “qualitative” is nonsense and acts as a bug, which muddies the qualitative-quantitative debate. For this reason, it would be better to remove the bug (i.e. to discharge the term “qualitative” from the language of social research and methodology), reset and start over from the level of specific research methods, considering carefully and balancing their diversity before mixing them. The purpose of this paper is to outline two (complementary) ways of integration of methods (“mixed” and “merged”), arguing that “merged” methods realize a higher integration than “mixed” methods, because the former overcome some weaknesses of the latter.Design/methodology/approach A semantic and pragmatic analysis of the term “qualitative.”Findings In social and behavioral sciences, the second life of mixed methods has been heavily affected by old positivist and quantitative assumptions.Research limitations/implications The term “qualitative” should be discharged from the language of social research and methodology.Practical implications The coveted integration in “mixed” methods, could be better pursed through “merged” methods.Social implications Disentangling the strands of a debate (the qualitative-quantitative one) become muddy.Originality/value An alternative framework, to interpret the mixed methods history and their recent developments, has been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to further the discussion on points made by Giampietro Gobo, provide additional information on the place of qualitative research in management, and question the space of merged methods.Design/methodology/approach Use a conversational approach as well as a review of qualitative vs quantitative research in three top tier journals for the years 2013-2016 (by a simple count).Findings Quantitative methods remain very much mainstream in management research, yet one finds that for one of the journals, space is evenly shared between qualitative and quantitative methods.Research limitations/implications This is a viewpoint and does not offer a systematic review of all top tier management journals.Originality/value It is hope that with this viewpoint debate as to the space of qualitative research, and merged methods can be stimulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on challenges faced by longitudinal quantitative analyses of school improvement processes and offers a systematic literature review of current papers that use longitudinal analyses. In this context, the authors assessed designs and methods that are used to analyze the relation between school improvement processes and student outcomes. Based on this the authors point out to what extent the papers consider different aspects of the complex nature of school improvement (e.g. multilevel structure, indirect and nonlinear effects, reciprocity). The choice of study designs and methods of analysis substantially determines which aspects of this complexity are taken into account. Design/methodology/approach – The authors searched in four international high-impact journals and in ERIC for articles reporting longitudinal school improvement studies. The database of the review consisted of a total of 428 journal articles. In total, 13 of the 428 papers met the selection criteria and were analyzed in detail. Findings – The analyzed papers use a wide range of designs and methodological approaches. They support the assumption that sophisticated quantitative longitudinal designs and methods can be applied effectively in school improvement research. However, considering the complexity of school improvement is accompanied by high demands on designs and methods. Due to this none of the papers met the standards applied in this review completely. Research limitations/implications – In particular, further research is needed to consider a long period of observation, reciprocal indirect and nonlinear processes in a multilevel structure. Moreover, research is required for a better and unambiguous theoretical foundation and empirical validation of the number of and intervals between measurement points. Practical implications – If more consideration is given to the complex nature of school improvement in future studies, the broader knowledge base will allow a better understanding of the dynamic relation of school improvement and student learning. It would thus be possible to make more appropriate recommendations for the support of school improvement practice. Originality/value – The original contribution of the paper is to show which aspects of the complexity of school improvement processes – and to what extent – are currently addressed in designs and methods of analysis applied in quantitative longitudinal studies that investigate the relation between schools’ capacity to managing change and student outcomes. Additionally the authors aim at deriving need for further research and giving guidelines how designs and methods in further studies can reflect the complexity appropriately. It is highly important to consider all aspects of this complexity to describe and understand the dynamic relation of school improvement processes and student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the interactive effects of psychological contract violation (PCV) and leader member exchange (LMX) on workplace behaviors and attitudes. Another purpose of this research was to contribute to the existing literature pertaining to PCV and organizational cynicism in the context of managerial employees working in India. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 237 managerial-level employees and 156 of their immediate supervisors of seven organizations in India. A questionnaire comprising 36 items pertaining to the study constructs was administered. The reliability of the instrument was verified through item analyses. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to establish the instrument’s construct validity. Study hypotheses were tested and competing models were compared using structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures. Findings – All scales were found to have acceptable reliability estimates. A CFA established that the manifest variables loaded significantly on their latent constructs and that the latter were empirically distinct. This established the scales’ construct validity. The results of the SEM procedures indicated that all study hypotheses could be accepted as statistically significant. Also, the moderator variable had a quasi-interactive impact on the criterion variables. Originality/value – This research is among the first of its kind to examine the variables of PCV and organizational cynicism among managerial employees working in India. It may also be one of the few meso-level investigations in extant literature examining the interaction between an individual (PCV) and a group (LMX) level variable and its impact on workplace behavior (organizational citizenship behavior) and attitudes (organizational cynicism). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Using broad definitions of sustainable and non-sustainable consumer behavior, identifying key elements of these types of consumer behavior and differentiating between spirituality and religiosity, the purpose of this study is to develop and test a research model.Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was conducted to identify elements of the research constructs. Literature on sustainable business practices was particularly important. Once elements were identified, measures used in previous consumer behavior research were used to collect data from 116 undergraduate students enrolled in marketing and management classes at a major university located in the southwestern USA.Findings Results indicate that the level of a consumer’s spirituality affects both sustainable and non-sustainable consumer behavior. In addition, the model predicts that the level of a consumer’s religiosity has no impact on non-sustainable consumer behavior, and this prediction is verified by the study results.Practical implications As it is important for businesses to conduct sustainable business practices, it may also be beneficial to consumers to practice sustainable behavior. A significant predictor of this sustainable consumer behavior is spirituality, and it is important to distinguish spirituality from religiosity.Originality/value Sustainable consumer behavior is more thoroughly described. Also, religiosity and spirituality are delineated. Finally, for the first time, the separate and distinct impact of religiosity and spirituality on sustainable and non-sustainable consumer behavior is assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This study aims to explore the dual identity role of joint gift-giving among adolescents. Studying this phenomenon through the lens of impression management theory enabled us to analyze private and group motives, drivers of these motives (givers’ public self-consciousness and self-monitoring and group cohesiveness) and the influence of group motives on the joint process. The characteristics of the joint process reflect a mutual social activity that enables adolescents to strengthen social group ties and define and nurture group identity. This research showed how a mutual consumer process, specifically, joint gift-giving, enhances the outcomes of social resources by defining groups’ mutual extended selves.Design/methodology/approach In this study, quantitative tools were used. Selection of constructs for the study was based on a literature review and existing qualitative research. To test the validity and the reliability of the scales, a convenience sample of 103 adolescents (13 to 16 years old) was used in a pre-test survey. In the main study, a convenience sample of 129 adolescences was used. Self-report questionnaires were distributed to adolescents (aged 13-16 years). The survey included scales covering private and group motives for joint gift-giving, givers’ personality, group cohesiveness and the characteristics of the joint process.Findings Givers’ public self-consciousness and self-monitoring were positively related to the motivation to engage in joint gift-giving to facilitate the development of desired private identities. High public self-consciousness and self-monitoring givers were motivated to enhance their private role in the group task and managed their impression among multiple audiences. We found that high-cohesiveness groups were motivated to nurture and strengthen social resources through joint gift-giving. Engaging in joint gift-giving is motivated not only by functional motives (e.g. saving money) but also by social motives that strengthen a group’s extended-self and social resources that all members enjoy.Research limitations/implications Although gift-giving is a three-stage process per gestation presentation and reformulation stage, the current study explored joint gift-giving behavior only in the gestation stage. Future research should include the other two stages. Also the current research concentrated on adolescents. Exploring joint gift-giving among adults is recommended as well. Comparing the two age groups should allow a better understanding of the special characteristics of adolescents and adults. Additionally, other personality characteristics could affect givers private identity in the group task and other group characteristics such as group size gender of members and group context in the workplace could affect identity.Practical implications This research can provide marketers with a deeper understanding of the joint gift-giving process. For example, marketers should recognize that joint gift-giving involves adolescent groups’ time-consuming activities in the joint process, i.e. gift selection effort, making handmade gifts and putting special efforts in gift appearance that enable them to define and nurture their group identity.Social implications Parents and educators should recognize the importance of social identity dual role in participating in joint gift-giving. Hence, we recommend them to encourage adolescents to participate in this joint consuming process to enable them to protect and define their identity.Originality/value Adolescents are an important market segment with unique cognitive, social and personality processes. While these processes have been explored in several consumer behavior studies, adolescents’ gift-giving has been largely ignored in the literature. This study contributes to an understanding of the drivers of private and group joint gift-giving motives, how sense of belonging and group identity are reflected in the social dynamics of joint gift-giving and how adolescents manage group and private impressions in the eyes of a single receiver and in the eyes of multiple peers participating in the group task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to draw together research which links the moral panic about the “adipose” body during the first five years of the millennium to the worsening mental health of US teens. Noting the way medical advocacy biased the news coverage in the quality press in the UK, the USA and Canada through its emphasis on weight gain in child and youth populations, it reviews evidence of a relationship between eating disorders, body dissatisfaction and the mental health of teens. Design/methodology/approach – Building on research which suggests that teens ' misperception of their body can impact their mental health, the paper proposes reflexive embodiment, defined as the way an individual interprets and evaluates their own body morphology in relationship to the medical profession’s articulation of norms for weight classes, as a new construct for exploring the impact of the medical debates about obesity. Findings – Using data sets from the US Youth Risk Behavior Survey gathered in 2001 and 2007 to compare both weight status and weight class accuracy, the study finds evidence that teens ' perceptions of their bodies have changed more than their actual weight. Noting a complex relationship between teens ' misperception of their weight status and mental health risks associated with depression and suicide, the paper explores ways that the medical stigmatization of the adipose body, and the ensuing consequences of gendered weight bias, have consequences for teen well-being. Research limitations/implications – This case study only provides an exploratory analysis of an hypothesis suggested by the theory of reflexive embodiment. Practical implications – Refocus health professions on the mental health of teens. Social implications – Evidence of health implications of reflexive embodiment adds to a growing critique of medicalization of adipose body morphology. Originality/value – The analysis of data contributes to a growing concern about medical stigmatization of “fat” bodies as unhealthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to enhance the knowledge of advertising effects of nature of advergame (game speed) on gamers’ brand recall and attitude. More specifically, this study investigates varying effects of game speed in advergames on young Indian gamers’ brand recall and attitudes under varied game-product congruence and persuasion knowledge conditions from attention, elaboration and persuasion perspectives. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 (nature of advergame: fast or slow) × 2 (game-product congruence: high or low) × 2 (persuasion knowledge: high or low) between-subject measures design is used. Experimental data were collected from 235 Indian graduate students. ANOVAs and MANOVA with pre-planned contrasts are used to test the hypotheses. Findings – The results indicate that for a slow-paced advergame, low game-product congruence result in high brand recall than high game-product congruence. For a fast-paced advergame, there is no difference in brand recall between low game-product congruence and high game-product congruence. Furthermore, findings reveal that for a slow-paced advergame with low game-product congruence, subjects with high persuasion knowledge report high brand recall and less favorable brand attitude than subjects with low persuasion knowledge. On the other hand, for a fast-paced advergame with low game-product congruence, there is no difference in brand recall and brand attitude between the subjects with high persuasion knowledge and the subjects with low persuasion knowledge. Practical implications – The findings of the study are very important for advertising practitioners, as selection of media that fit the advertised product with reference to the nature and content of the media is a planning strategy that has been widely used by media planners. Thus, if advertisers want to create high brand awareness by creating high brand memory, then slow-paced advergames with low congruent brand placements can be chosen as an effective in-game media strategy for online advertising. Additionally, game developers and marketers can plan and develop more effective advergames by taking into account the persuasion knowledge factor so that the implementation would have the strongest positive effect on consumers’ brand recall and brand attitude. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature of non-traditional media advertising, specifically advergaming context by exploring the impact of nature of game and game-product congruence on gamers’ ad-persuasion. Also, this study is the first attempt to understand how the game speed and its boundary conditions influence gamers’ brand recall and attitude and in attention, elaboration and persuasion perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]