Marketing Communication Intensity Across Industries

Marketing communication intensity (i.e., the ratio of advertising and promotional expenditures to sales) has been an important topic for both business managers and academics. Here, we investigate cross-sectional and time-series variation of communication intensity due to: type of offering (product versus service) and type of market (consumer versus industrial). Overall, we find that both of these factors affect variation of communication intensity across industries and over time. However, the effect of market type is much more dramatic than the effect of offering type. Such knowledge about patterns in communication intensity levels helps managers make decisions about how much to spend on advertising and promotion.     

The nutrition-related information seeking behaviours and attitudes of pregnant women with a high BMI: A qualitative study

BackgroundThe prevalence of high body mass index is increasing amongst women of child bearing age. High maternal body mass index has ramifications for both mother and baby including increased health risks from gestational diabetes mellitus, caesarean section and stillbirth. Despite the increasing prevalence of high maternal body mass index little is known of the experiences of these women regarding nutrition information access and use during the antenatal period.MethodsA qualitative study using individual interviews was undertaken at a tertiary hospital in south-eastern Australia. Twenty-Eight women with a body mass index ≥30 kg/m² participated. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, cross-checked for consistency and entered into a word processing document for further scrutiny. Data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). In any phenomenological study the researcher’s objective is to elicit the participant’s views on their lived experiences.FindingsThree major themes emerged: (1) Nutrition-related information attainment; (2) Nutrition-related information management; (3) Nutrition-related information needs and wants.ConclusionThe findings from this study may assist the future development and dissemination of nutrition-related information for pregnant women with a high body mass index. Women want more individualised support regarding nutritional requirements during pregnancy.     

Life Satisfaction of Rural Migrant Workers in Urban China: The Roles of Community Service Participation and Identity Integration

Abstract

China is home to approximately 245 million rural-to-urban migrant workers. The influx of migrants into urban areas has posed various challenges for local social service systems. Recently, increasing number of community services have been developed to meet the growing service demands from the migrant population. However, whether increase in community service use results in improved wellbeing among migrant workers remains critically unexplored. As such, this study examines the role of community service use in migrant workers’ life satisfaction and the potential mediating effect of identity integration in Shenzhen, China. Bootstrapped models were adopted to examine relationship among variables. Drawing from a sample of 1,087 rural-to-urban migrant workers, we found that community service use is positively correlated with both identity integration and migrant workers’ life satisfaction. Moreover, identity integration served as a partial mediator between community service use and life satisfaction. The mediating effect of identity integration was found to increase with age. This study highlights that diverse services should be implemented to address divergent needs of migrants in different age groups. Community service can also serve as a vehicle to foster integration among migrant workers in host communities, especially for older age groups. Future studies may further investigate the relationships between community social capital, community social support, quality of community-based organization and frequency of service use so as to optimize the life satisfaction of migrant workers.     

A scoping review of knowledge syntheses in the field of evaluation across four decades of practice

This scoping review of 62 knowledge syntheses published in evaluation-focused journals between 1979 and May 2018 provides a portrait of synthesis practices and their evolution in the mainstream of the field of evaluation. Concerns surrounding the production of knowledge syntheses to answer policy questions are not new in the field of evaluation. However, during this last decade, knowledge synthesis methods have expanded as a means to go beyond the limits and constraints of singular evaluations. This scoping review reveals and discusses two key issues with regards to the expansion of knowledge synthesis practices within the field of evaluation: the diversity—and muddling— of methodological practices and synthesis designs, and the frequent omission of quality appraisals.     

Bringing Japanese Continuous Improvement Approaches to U.S. Manufacturing: The Roles of Process Orientation and Communications*

Continuous improvement (CI) has played a key role in Japan's quality management. U.S. companies have begun to adopt CI in recent years. This paper studies the implementation of CI in seven U.S. manufacturing companies. We view values as the core concept of culture that impacts CI effectiveness. Using both qualitative and quantitative data with a sample of seven companies, we observe empirically a relationship between process-oriented values and CI effectiveness. We also find that communications involving workers is strongly associated with CI effectiveness. Finally, we find an association between process orientation and communication frequency, and argue that communications act as an intervening variable between process orientation and effectiveness.     

A Path Analytic Model of a Theory of Quality Management Underlying the Deming Management Method: Preliminary Empirical Findings*

Despite the impact that Deming and his 14 Points have had on the practice of quality management, empirical support for the effectiveness of the Deming Management Method has not advanced beyond the presentation of anecdotal, case-study evidence. In part, this is because theory to guide the conduct of empirical research has not been available. Only recently has such a theory of quality management to describe and explain the effectiveness of the Deming Management Method been articulated in the literature. This paper continues the journey of theory development; it reports the results of an exploratory empirical analysis of an articulated theory of quality management underlying the Deming Management Method. The constructs in the proposed theory are operationalized using measurement statements developed by the World-Class Manufacturing research project team at the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University. Path analysis is applied to the World-Class Manufacturing project data to explore the empirical strength of relationships advanced in the theory. The path analytic results provide support for several of the proposed relationships in the theory, and more importantly, suggest a number of new relationships which have not heretofore been proposed.     

不完全契约、质量监督与农业企业外包——基于中国农业上市公司的实证研究

农业企业的产品质量与组织分工形式密切相关。在契约不完全理论的基础上构建引入质量监督与企业外包决策的经济模型,提出质量监督成本的提高会促使农业企业选择纵向一体化生产模式的理论假说,并基于2012-2021年中国农业上市公司数据,采用动态面板系统GMM方法展开经验研究证实。结果表明,生产环节的难以监督和契约制度环境不完善产生的质量监督成本使农业上市公司外包水平显著下降,间接验证了农业企业为保证中间产品质量需增大对专业化经营主体的监督费用,从而影响其组织分工形式的理论假说。此外,企业的资产专用性、市场规模和资产规模都会对外包程度产生影响。进一步分组回归发现：与养殖类企业相比,质量监督成本对生产过程相对复杂的种植类企业外包水平的负向影响更为显著。     

要素匹配与中国投资效率空间差异性——基于双层嵌套型函数的分解研究

本文基于四要素双层嵌套的生产函数,利用1990-2016年全国层面及省际层面数据测算投资效率,并分析其空间结构特征及演变轨迹,检验投资效率匹配效应影响因素。研究发现：①1990-2016年我国整体投资效率呈下降趋势,资本-技能劳动匹配效应与整体投资效率走势趋同,快速累积的资本存量和不断升级的资本质量与短缺的技能劳动之间矛盾突出。②东中西部地区投资效率增长非一致性明显。东部地区资本相对投资效率明显高于中西部,但下降幅度大于中西部,中西部与东部地区之间差距缩小,其中匹配效应是区域间投资效率非平衡的主要成因。③若产业结构升级的技能劳动需求不能满足,将引发要素错配,不利于有效投资。房价与工资提升分别通过影响技能劳动供给和需求抑制要素匹配效率;教育和公路设施会对地区要素匹配产生积极影响,改善地区间投资效率非均衡性;地区投资效率存在显著正向空间相关性,毗邻地区的要素流动和经济发展相近地区的技术溢出均对投资效率产生积极的影响。     

Strengths,weaknesses, opportunities,and threats to housing first in Metro Vancouver

ObjectivesTo understand the experience of Metro Vancouver’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy-funded Housing First program and how it is functioning from the perspective of a representative sample of providers and clients who deliver and receive HF services.MethodsThirty-four clients and providers who currently or formerly delivered HF in Metro Vancouver participated in one-on-one interviews (n = 26) or focus groups (n = 8) between March and April 2017 and data were thematically analyzed.ResultsStrengths of the HF program included: the ability to transition persons from the street into housing with individualized service supports and, in certain cases, with 12-month rent subsidies, household goods, and connection to community resources. Identified program weaknesses were: eligibility criteria, limited rent subsidy funds, limited provider capacity, and workload burden. Suggested opportunities to improve HF were: streamlining federal and provincial reporting and rent subsidy systems and building friendly landlord networks. Potential threats to HF described were: limited affordable housing, stigma and discrimination toward clients, inadequate income assistance, and limited opportunity for cross-sector collaboration.ConclusionsThe delivery of HF in regions that have limited affordable housing presents unique challenges. Recommendations are provided to improve HF practice and policy in these contexts.