Entscheidungsverhalten von Kunden in Mass Customization-Systemen

Sequential choice processes are ubiquitous in consumer decision making. In each attribute decision, consumers are often faced with different numbers of options which they must trade off in order to make the best possible choice. Thereby, complicated high variety choices at the beginning of a choice process produce a larger trade-off conflict and, thus, initially a greater mental depletion than more simple low variety choices. We examine the strength of mental depletion in sequential choices on individuals’ perceived attractiveness of the firm’s recommended default option at a target choice. We show that consumers who are confronted with difficult high variety choices early in the decision sequence followed by low variety choices initially deplete more than consumers who encounter exactly the same attribute decisions in reverse. As a result, depleted consumers are more likely to fall prey to the recommended default or some perceptually focal options close to the default anchor at target choice succeeding a sequence of decisions.     

Cultures of intergenerational transmission in four-generation families

Intergenerational transfers in families are increasingly a topic of interest in the context of reductions in the welfare state and increased longevity. This paper draws upon data from a study of four‐generation families which afforded an opportunity to examine the transfer of material and care resources across family generations. It explores ways in which family members from different generations talked about family obligations and the relevance of the concept ‘cultures of transmission’ in classifying these discourses. It addresses the questions: How far are cultures of transmission familial in the sense of typifying particular families? And how far are they shaped by life course phase and by historical context?     

Using Evaluative Research to Support Practitioners and Service Users in Undertaking Reflective Writing for Public Dissemination

Outputs of research are mainly reports, in a variety of formatsfor different audiences: web-based materials, conference presentationsand articles. Usually, these are the researchers’ products,with different levels of input by research participants, dependantupon the participative methods adopted. Two strands of discoursein relation to research allow for inclusion of other potentialoutputs for research: service user involvement in research andthe notion of the research-informed or aware practitioner. Thisarticle focuses upon the experience of using evaluative researchprojects to generate practitioner and user writing for publicdissemination, drawing upon these two themes.     

Environmental Justice and Social Power Rhetoric in the Moral Battle over Whaling*

This study examines the ideological battle between the Makah Indian Tribe and anti‐whaling activists over the Tribe's quest to resume its 2000‐year‐old tradition of hunting gray whales for traditional and ceremonial purposes. Through qualitative discourse analysis of 268 newspaper articles, this study analyzes the competing rhetoric surrounding the indigenous whaling issue and exposes fundamental differences in how the opposing campaigns frame their arguments. This study contributes to the literature on social movements and environmental justice in two primary ways. First, this article exposes the social power dynamics and experientially based assumptions inherent in the “framing contests” of competing social movements that comprised those from diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Second, this article expands existing work in the field of environmental justice to include American Indian issues and concerns.     

Children's Perceptions of Family Relationships as Assessed in a Doll Story Completion Task: Links to Parenting, Social Competence, and Externalizing Behavior

This study was designed to examine the links between parenting, children's perceptions of family relationships, and children's social behavior. Seventy‐four children (M age=6.01 years; 39 boys; 35 girls) and their parents took part in the study. Children completed relationship‐oriented doll stories that were coded for coherence, prosocial themes, and aggressive themes. Parents completed a report of their child's social behavior, a parenting scale, and a number of demographic items. Teachers also completed measures of children's social competence and externalizing behavior. Warm parenting predicted both a child's representation of prosocial themes in the doll stories and social competence, whereas harsh parenting predicted both a child's use of aggressive themes in the doll stories and a child's externalizing behavior. These findings support the idea that children are constructing models of relationships out of the early interactions with caregivers, and that they use these representations to guide their social behavior.     

Managing Change Across Boundaries: Boundary‐Shaking Practices1

To date, boundary spanning has primarily been conceived of as an activity relating an organization to its environment, including other organizations with which it cooperates and competes. In contrast, this study focuses on the boundary spanning practices of individuals acting as change agents to implement boundary‐shaking change initiatives across intra‐organizational boundaries. These boundary‐shaking individuals all work for blue‐chip organizations in sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, consultancy and automotive. The change initiatives are equally diverse, including post‐merger integration, exploitation of across‐business synergies and implementing more integrative structures. Through our examination of boundary‐shakers we are able to extend what we know about internal change agency and change agent skills and practices. Our starting point is that organizations are comprised of networks of people with a degree of common interest. Our research shows our research subjects to be active movers and shakers in these networks, using their knowledge of the organizational political context and the motivations of others to create new networks (or new meanings within old networks), which then enables them to pursue their change objectives.     

Zusammenfassungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Privatisation and economism: an investigation amongst 'producers' in two privatised public utilities in Britain

Both academic and political debate about the effects of privatisation upon employees in privatised companies has taken place in something of an empirical vacuum. In particular, there is a lack of systematic enquiries into the major privatised utilities. Despite the lack of evidence, a number of claims have been advanced, both about the impact of privatisation upon the political attitudes of employees, and about its effects on working conditions, worker motivation and behaviour. This paper presents the results of a survey of 442 employees in two privatised public utilities. It is divided into two parts, looking first at the more general social and political attitudes of these employees, then presenting their views on the impact of privatisation on the company they work for, and on their working lives. The findings reported here lend little support either to new right claims about privatisation's transformative powers or to the view that ‘for most people … privatisation will make very little difference at all’ (Saunders and Harris, 1990).     

Research note The study of sensitive subjects

This note examines some research issues raised by studies of sensitive topics and the disclosure of highly personal and confidential information. The first part focuses on the research method of in-depth interviewing and covers some theoretical and methodological problems associated with the method, together with a discussion of some strategies adopted by researchers and respondents in the interview setting. The second part discusses some of the hazards of this type of research and argues for the need to protect respondents and researchers alike. These issues are discussed with reference to the author's own fieldwork experiences of three research projects.     

HISTORICAL AND CURRENT FACTORS DISCRIMINATING SEXUALLY FUNCTIONAL FROM SEXUALLY DYSFUNCTIONAL MARRIED COUPLES*

Clinical literature has noted numerous past and current psychosocial factors characteristicof sexually dysfunctional individuals. However, there is almost no empirical documentation of factorsdiscriminating sexually functional from dysfunctional couples. The present study compared the responses of 94 clinical couples accepted for sex therapy with 110 nonclinical couples, selected from the same community. The couples were in their mid-30s, married an average of 12 years, middle income, rather well educated, and over 75% had at least one child. Individuals completed a 517-question Personal History Questionnaire (PHQ), and sex and marital defensiveness scales. The PHQ wasclinically and empirically developed, resulting in 54 internally consistent scales. Major analyses tested the discriminating power of past and current PHQ scales. The best discriminators were sexual functioning scales, historical and affective scales for women, and current and fantasy scales for men. Several surprising results appeared, including the importance of first coitus and the lack of importance of marital satisfaction, communication and sexual history scales. Four conclusionswere discussed relevant to the separation of sex and relationship satisfaction, the separation of sexualfunctioning and sexual satisfaction, and the differential impact of sexual problems on men and women.