Reason-based judgments: Using reasons to decouple perceived price–quality correlation

Many models of consumer behaviour assume that people evaluate price and quality independently. However, evidence shows that consumers perceive price and quality as positively related even when they are weakly correlated in the real markets. This paper explores whether this perceived relationship can be cognitively de-coupled by providing explicit reasons why low price and high quality may be compatible. The participants were asked to rate existing stores and fictitious stores in a two-dimensional price–quality space. When the participants were given plausible reasons why the seemingly high quality fictitious stores could have lower than average prices, their judgement of the price–quality relationship was significantly less correlated than when these stores were judged without such reasons. Therefore, the demonstrated phenomenon of reason-based judgments can be used to attenuate the typical price–quality overestimation, or heuristic, which has important implications for decision making research and marketing practice.     

Elizabeth Clemens and Doug Guthrie (eds): Politics and Partnerships: The Role of Voluntary Associations in America’s Political Past and Present

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Safety culture: Key theoretical issues

Abstract

The organizational preconditions to major systems failures are seen as increasingly important for risk management. However, existing empirical attempts to study safety culture and its relationship to organizational outcomes have remained fragmented and underspecified in theoretical terms. This is despite the existence of a number of well-developed theories of organizationally induced accidents and disasters. Reasons for this disfunction of theory and practice are first considered. The paper then outlines four key theoretical questions for safety culture researchers: the fact that culture acts simultaneously as a precondition both for safe operations and for the oversight of incubating hazards (the paradox of ‘safety’ culture); the challenge of dealing with complex and ill-structured hazardous situations where decision makers are faced with deep forms of uncertainty represented by incompleteness of knowledge or ignorance; the need to consider the construction of risk perceptions in workgroups, and to view risk acceptability as the outcome of a process of social negotiation; and the fact that institutional politics and power are critical for determining the achievement of safety culture goals, and in particular that of organizational learning.     

Maori family culture: A context of youth development in Counties/Manukau

Abstract

This paper has two main objectives. First, it examines the ways in which the Waitangi Tribunal considers the notion of “time” (and its corollary “timelessness") in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi. The Tribunal has increasingly emphasised the timeless‐ness of the Treaty, its ability to transcend temporal notions of time, and the implications of this for the relationship between the Treaty partners, Maori and the Crown. Second, it compares these tendencies with contemporary Maori ideas of time, as they are presented in the modern Treaty claims process. It is argued that the Tribunal, especially in its more recent reports, has signalled a marked shift in its acknowledgment of Maori concepts of time. Its published reports from 1999 onwards show more appreciation not for only for Maori understandings of the Treaty relationship, but for Maori values and concepts which, by their articulation and inclusion in the hearing process, test orthodox and dominant assumptions regarding the nature of change over time. Some broader trends may also be observed. Since the 1980s, there have been numerous references to the Treaty and its principles in statutory law, Waitangi Tribunal reports, and Deeds of Settlement ratified by successive New Zealand governments. Furthermore, there has been increasing (but by no means universal) recognition of the Treaty as a “developing social contract”, rather than a static historical document, with much of the impetus for such an interpretation coming from findings and recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal.     

The sexuality‐assemblage: desire,affect, anti‐humanism

Two theoretical moves are required to resist the ‘humanist enticements’ associated with sexuality. Post‐structuralism supplies the first, showing how the social produces culturally specific sexual knowledgeabilities. A second anti‐humanist move is then needed to overturn anthropocentric privileging of the human body and subject as the locus of sexuality. In this paper we establish a language and landscape for a Deleuze‐inspired anti‐humanist sociology of sexuality that shifts the location of sexuality away from bodies and individuals. Sexuality in this view is an impersonal affective flow within assemblages of bodies, things, ideas and social institutions, which produces sexual (and other) capacities in bodies. Assemblages territorialize bodies' desire, setting limits on what it can do: this process determines the shape of sexuality, which is consequently both infinitely variable and typically highly restricted. We illustrate how this anti‐humanist ontology may be applied to empirical data to explore sexuality‐assemblages, and conclude by exploring the theoretical and methodological advantages and disadvantages of an anti‐humanist assemblage approach to sexuality.     

Pet ownership and homelessness: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Between 5 and 25% of people experiencing homelessness have pets. Pet ownership can have a range of impacts in the lives of people experiencing homelessness, which may mitigate or further complicate the many adversities they face. However, there is a need to better understand the benefits and challenges associated with pet ownership to determine how this group can be best supported. Accordingly, a scoping review was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar to address the question: What are the effects of pet ownership on people experiencing homelessness? All of the 18 reviewed studies used either qualitative or cross-sectional research designs. Three domains have been principally examined in relation to pet ownership and homelessness: (1) psychological health and purpose; (2) social support and connection; and (3) access to housing, employment, and service use. Physical health, violence, and crime were less frequently studied. Although the findings offer further support that there are both benefits and liabilities to pet ownership for people experiencing homelessness, there is a critical need for more rigorous research, including longitudinal and intervention studies. Recommendations for developing more pet-friendly services and using a strengths-based approach that considers animal companionship when working with people experiencing housing instability are also discussed.     

The complexities of friendship: exploring how gay men make sense of their workplace friendships with straight women

Despite the contemporary attention paid to the gay male–straight female friendship dyad within popular culture and a growing scholarly interest in male–female friendships, not enough is known about the friendship dynamics between gay men and straight women, particularly in the workplace. I draw upon qualitative findings from in‐depth interviews with 28 gay men employed in a range of work roles in the UK to document their existence and shed light on how gay men understand, value and give meaning to workplace friendships with women. Study findings reveal the paucity of textual cues and practices to direct the development and maintenance of these friendships. Overcoming this, study participants are shown to be inventive in their approach to doing friendship. As problematic as some friendship ties are for understanding differences along the lines of sexuality and gender, the opportunities for challenging heteronormative ways of relating in workplace friendship are regarded as more promising.     

Assessing knowledge assets: a review of the models used to measure intellectual capital

This paper reviews the literature pertaining to the assessment of knowledge assets. Since knowledge assets are at the crux of sustainable competitive advantage, the burgeoning field of intellectual capital is an exciting area for both researchers and practitioners. Unfortunately, the measurement of such intangible assets is difficult. A variety of models have surfaced in an attempt to measure IC and this paper aims to highlight their strengths, weaknesses and operationalizations.     

Vaccine scares

Vaccination has been one of the great success stories. It has eradicated smallpox; it has greatly reduced polio and measles; it has hugely improved the health of children and adults throughout the globe. But when a single study linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism some parents refused to have their children vaccinated. Despite scientific refutation, a major public scare, lasting for years, has resulted. Nick Andrews looks at what went wrong.