What About the Grandparents? Children's Postdivorce Residence Arrangements and Contact With Grandparents

Despite the importance of grandparents in their grandchildren's lives, little is known about grandparent–grandchild contact after parental divorce. In this study, the authors investigated differences in grandparent–grandchild contact across 3 postdivorce residence arrangements (mother residence, father residence, and shared residence) using recent survey data from the Netherlands (N = 3,842). The results indicated that contact with maternal grandparents after divorce was highest in mother‐residence arrangements, followed by shared residence and then father residence. Contact with paternal grandparents was highest for children in father‐residence and shared‐residence arrangements, followed by mother residence. Parental conflict had little influence on children's contact with maternal grandparents, but it decreased contact with paternal grandparents. Moreover, the results partly support the assumption that conflict moderates the relationship between residence arrangements and grandparental contact, with differences between residence arrangements being more pronounced in the case of high‐conflict divorced families than in low‐conflict ones.     

A comparison of heritage language ideologies in interaction

In Canada, the notion of a heritage language ideology is often conceived of as a natural by‐product of official multiculturalism. By contrast, Germany has long struggled with its status as a multilingual and multicultural country. By comparing two corpora of interviews with immigrants to each of these two countries (Canadians of German heritage and Germans of Vietnamese heritage), this paper aims to explore to what extent these different language ideologies are reconstructed in the interviews. It will be argued that the interviewees construct different sociolinguistic spaces and take up different positions within them in terms of centre and periphery. Our analysis shows that the German‐Canadian interviewees construct public sociolinguistic spaces in which they position themselves as German even when they do not have an active knowledge of their heritage language. By contrast, despite the monolingual habitus in Germany, the German‐Vietnamese respondents endorse a heritage language ideology; the space they claim for speaking Vietnamese, however, is restricted to private or family conversations.     

Job insecurity and trust: Uncovering a mechanism linking job insecurity to well-being

Job insecurity has well-documented negative effects for individuals as well as organisations. However, the mechanisms by which job insecurity relates to its outcomes have received less research attention. The purpose of this study is to investigate trust in the organisation as a potential mechanism that may explain why job insecurity relates to two well-documented outcomes: decreased job satisfaction and lowered mental health. These hypotheses were tested in a Swedish longitudinal sample that consists of employees (longitudinal n?=?906) from three organisations, using structural equation modelling. Overall, the results showed support for our hypotheses. Our findings reveal an indirect effect of trust on job satisfaction, regardless of whether the previous levels of job satisfaction were controlled for. With regard to mental health, the indirect effect was only evident when previous levels of mental health were not controlled for. The results of this study contribute to our understanding about the intervening factors in the relationship between job insecurity and outcomes. Moreover, the results might be important for human resources departments and managers when there are indications that employees are worrying about the future of their jobs.     

New developments in behavioral pricing research

Behavioral pricing extends traditional price theory by exploring consumers’ reactions to prices from a psychological perspective. With the constant and substantial evolution of this research field, we review the progress on the state of knowledge on consumers’ processing of price information and price behavior. To this end, we develop a framework to classify the advances made in behavioral pricing research during the past decade. We discuss conceptual developments, the contribution of the adoption of new theories, and new relationships and pricing phenomena. We show that several concepts have undergone conceptual developments (e.g., price search) while other concepts are new to the literature (e.g., participative pricing mechanisms). Regarding theoretical developments, the adoption of theories from other disciplines has contributed to enhance understanding of price-related effects. Finally, new pricing phenomena, such as the zero price effect or the placebo effect of price promotions, challenge the traditional view of consumers’ response to price information. Furthermore, a number of recent empirical findings contradict existing knowledge on price-related concepts and phenomena. Thus, it is of prime importance to integrate the latest findings with prior literature. From the key findings in the literature, we derive directions for future research.     

The Changing Space for NGOs: Civil Society in Authoritarian and Hybrid Regimes

In this introductory essay to the special issue on civil society in authoritarian and hybrid regimes, we review core themes in the growing literature on shrinking or closing space for civil society. We discuss the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) as agents of democratization and note the emergence of dual, at times apparently conflicting policy postures within authoritarian regimes (restriction and repression for some CSOs vs. financial support and opportunities for collaboration for others). We posit that different conceptual perspectives applied to civil society can help account for the duality of authoritarian postures and examine repercussions for three key subgroups of CSOs: claims-making (or advocacy) NGOs, nonprofit service providers and regime-loyal NGOs supporting often populist and nationalist discourses.

     

The state of Australian public relations: Professionalisation and paradox

It is almost a decade since the last empirical study of Australian public relations appeared in the academic literature. This paper reports on a survey conducted immediately prior to the onset of the global financial crisis aimed at revealing the state of public relations in Australia. In particular, the study investigated levels of professionalisation in terms of such criteria as the strategic orientation of public relations, its position within organisational hierarchies, and the importance placed on ethics and professional development. The findings show Australian PR professionals to be highly educated, comparatively well paid and frequently in positions of influence with their CEOs. Paradoxically despite these strengths, the profession in Australia does not seem to have outgrown public relations’ pervasive identity crisis.     

Feeling European: an exploration of ethnic disparities among immigrants

Over the last 20 years, European identity has become a key topic widely investigated in social sciences. However, most research has only focused on EU nationals and EU immigrants, neglecting the fact that a substantial segment of citizens in Europe are non-EU immigrants. This article explores the differences between and within EU and non-EU immigrant groups in terms of European identity and potential factors behind these differences. Based on the 2013 IAB-SOEP Migration Sample of first generation immigrants in Germany (N?=?2581), this paper reveals that non-EU immigrants tend to identify as European – even if to a lesser extent than EU immigrants. Moreover it provides a systematic comparative exploration of different factors possibly able to foster a European identity among EU and non-EU immigrants. It reveals, for instance, that religious affiliation has no significant impact but that spatial mobility is especially important in accounting for patterns in ethnic disparities in the endorsement of a European identity. Furthermore, this article illuminates a positive association between European identity and identity with the receiving society among both EU and non-EU immigrants as well as a positive association between European identity and identification with the origin country among EU immigrants.     

The Political Economy of Pension Reform in Eastern Europe

The retirement schemes in several East European countries underwent fundamental change in recent years, defying conventional wisdom in welfare state research. This article takes a new look at the determinants of paradigm choice in the area of old-age security, comparing the Polish, Hungarian and Czech experience from an actor-centred institutionalist perspective. The author points out that structural factors — notably the financial situation of retirement schemes and the level of external debt — largely determined the set of main pension reform actors, as well as their relative strength. The resulting actor constellations produced the basic paradigm choice, based on the actors' respective cognitive maps and consequent perception of pension reform alternatives. Tactical moves and the strategic potentialities of the chosen paradigm were also relevant.