The Best Laid Plans: Expectations,Preferences, and Stability of Child‐Care Arrangements

This study considers whether an earlier and more extensive search for child care, and a match of the type used to the type preferred, predicts arrangement stability. We used the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care to estimate multinomial logit models of arrangement changes over 3‐month intervals between 3 and 12 months (n= 958 children and 2,223 observations). Use of preferred care predicted greater arrangement stability, and parents who settled early on 1 option were less likely later to switch care types. Those who planned earlier were more likely to use their preferred care type and to use higher quality settings. This study encourages future research on how, when, and with what success parents search for child care.     

基于混合研究法的中国重要休闲议题的识别研究

为了探索未来中国休闲研究的关键问题,28位从事休闲研究的中国学者参加了由北京第二外国语学院主办、美国伊利诺伊大学与加拿大阿尔伯塔大学联合承办的2013年中国休闲与社会进步学术年会及期间的研究项目,这些学者还成为该项目的受访者。运用序列解释混合法对28位专家进行意见征询和反馈,最终,中国学者确定了如下9个休闲议题：时间利用、休闲与幸福（生活满意度）、公共政策和规划、家庭休闲、需要和动机、技术变革、休闲空间和资源、休闲教育、休闲与传统文化。这些领域反映了中国文化与社会焦点的影响力,对21世纪第二个十年的中国社会具有特殊的重要性,对如何改善休闲服务供给问题具有重要启示,同时也对建设和谐社会有重要的参考作用。     

‘We can’t let them fail for one more day’: School reform urgency and the politics of reformer-community alliances

This article provides a critical examination of neoliberal urgency in education reform. While critics of neoliberal reform policies have argued that these reforms exclude low-income community participation almost entirely, I argue that in practice this exclusion is not as total or as overt as macro-analyses would suggest. These macro analyses do not explain the complicated alliances that reformers have with some community organizations, nor do they specifically and critically examine the role that urgency plays in determining the value of community voice in school reform decisions. On the ground, elite school reformers forge tenuous alliances with select low-income community groups, while disregarding and marginalizing others. In this article, I posit that ‘urgency,’ a cherished ideal and guiding principle of the neoliberal school reform movement, becomes the mechanism for elite school reformers to distinguish ‘good’ and valuable community allies from ‘backwards’ and ignorant community voices. A critical examination of school reformer narratives in particular reveals that the discourse and practice of school reform urgency both legitimizes and hides a more profound exclusion of low-income African American voices from the school reform process.     

Theoretical progress in consumer psychology: The contribution of a behavioural analysis of choice

The dominant paradigm for consumer research in the context of marketing is cognitive information processing. Its fundamental assumption is that observable behaviour is preceded by intrapersonal mental events which also serve to explain that behaviour. Radical behaviourism has been misinterpreted and misrepresented by consumer researchers who have adopted a cognitively-based mode of explanation to the exclusion of all others. This article asks how scientific progress is possible in consumer psychology, given the preeminence of this explanatory mode. It argues that prevailing explanations should be subjected to a rigorous critique based upon contrasting assumptions about the causes of behaviour found in alternative perspectives. Attention is drawn to the contribution which radical behaviourism can make and its role is illustrated by reference to the explanation of consumer innovativeness.     

Managing Children’s Friendships Through Interparental Relationships: Roles of Ethnicity and Friendship Context

Twenty African American and European American mothers of fourth‐grade students reflected on strategies for managing children’s friendships maintained across a variety of contexts. Ethnicity differentially located families within specific social contexts that yielded children’s friendships, then informed social processes as they unfolded within these contexts. Maternal knowledge concerning children’s friendships developed as a function of the types of relationships formed among parents encountered within different settings. Findings suggest that interparental relationships represent a key source of information about children’s friendships. Yet, maternal opportunities to establish such relationships differ on the basis of both ethnicity and the nature of contexts in which children’s friendships are maintained.     

Identifying gaps and blind spots in competitive intelligence

As a result of the intensification and globalization of competition in most fields, the use of competitive intelligence (Cl) in strategic decisions has grown in potential importance. Yet evidence exists that many companies have serious blind spots concerning their competitors' capabilities, intentions and possible reactions to offensive moves. This article introduces a relatively simple but systematic approach to identifying and studying competitive blind spots and facilitating the effective use of Cl in strategic decisions. Applying this approach retrospectively in two companies, and prospectively in a third, we found that if identified serious gaps in Cl, which, in all cases, may have contributed to results shortfalls.