Gendered experiences of physical restraint on locked wards for women

Physical restraint is used in inpatient services for people with intellectual disabilities as a way of holding a person to avoid injury. This article uses data from an ethnographic study in a locked unit in the north of England to explore women’s experiences of physical restraint using a feminist disability studies analysis. Data consists of field notes as well as interviews with 16 of the women who had experienced restraint, and 10 staff who worked with them. The women gave insights into the gendered phenomenon of restraint in light of their past experiences of violence. The authors argue that restraint is used with women to encourage passivity at times when more relational and therapeutic methods could be used. The article offers recommendations for alternative strategies that services can encourage.     

Sexual objectification decreases women’s experiential consumption (but not material consumption)

The current investigation examined our prediction that sexual objectification decreases women’s experiential consumption but not material consumption. Three experiments provided converging support for this prediction. In particular, female participants reported lower tendency to engage in experiential consumption after recalling a past experience of objectification (Studies 1 and 3) and chose a material product over an experiential one after receiving objectifying comments (Study 2). Furthermore, Study 3 found that sexual objectification reduced purchase inclination of experiential products, and this effect did not emerge for material products. These findings contribute to the literature on sexual objectification by showing the impact of sexual objectification on women’s economic decisions and behaviors.     

Impact of customer loyalty and service operations on customer behaviour and firm performance: empirical evidence from UK retail sector

Abstract

Retail networks are striving to achieve competitive advantage by increasing value through loyalty and efficiency with a focus on service operations. As sales promotions have become an integral part of the retail supply chain planning, customer behavioural aspects based on loyalty and service operations have been challenged greatly. Subsequently, management capabilities, such as planning and timely replenishment, have become complicated tasks for many retail store managers. This study develops a model integrating retail network value and efficiencies with customer behaviour and performance. We validate the model using survey data from prominent U.K. retail store customers. Our data analysis shows that both loyalty and service operation attributes have positive significant impact on customer behaviour, while the service operation mediates the relationship between loyalty and customer behaviour. This result gives a new outlook to build managerial capability based on customer loyalty and service operations. Our results specifically show that the service operation attributes will indirectly influence the customers’ buying behaviour even in the presence of loyalty attribute such as promotion schemes. This result sends a strong signal to retail supply chain managers to offer customised promotions considering local community rather than having uniform sales promotion nationwide.     

A reduced form of the Workplace Bullying Scale – the EAPA-T-R: A useful instrument for daily diary and experience sampling studies

The need for more longitudinal studies (i.e. daily diary and experience sampling studies) focused on counterproductive work behaviours such as bullying requires shorter scales that at the same time do not compromise their content validity. Our main objective is to develop and validate a reduced version of the Workplace Bullying Scale (Escala de Abuso Psicológico Aplicado en el Lugar de Trabajo): the EAPA-T-R. Two studies (Study 1: 1506 and Study 2: 932 employees, respectively) were conducted to evaluate its psychometric properties and to ensure the external validity of the EAPA-T-R. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to reduce the current 12-item scale to a more parsimonious 4-item scale. Moreover, the psychometric properties of potential models were compared. Subsequently, the new scale was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Likewise, statistically significant relationships were found between the EAPA-T-R and other dimensions evaluated, such as job characteristics, transformational leadership, engagement, job satisfaction, and subjective performance. Moreover, bullying mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and burnout. To sum up, the EAPA-T-R showed good reliability and validity across studies, supporting its use in future research. The benefits of this short scale for daily diary and experience sampling studies and when using large surveys are discussed.     

Network domains in social networking sites: expectations,meanings, and social capital

This paper examines why the use of social networking sites (SNSs) leads to different results in cultivating bridging and bonding social capital for different groups of people. Based on in-depth interviews of 45 university students in Hong Kong, I find that Mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong actively use SNSs for seeking practical information about offline matters, and they obtain substantial enacted support from other Mainland students of the same university through SNS use. As a result, they accumulate both bridging and bonding social capital. Local Hong Kong students, however, use SNSs mainly for social information seeking and are only able to accrue limited bridging social capital through SNS use. Drawing on the theory of network domains, I argue that the different offline network structures in which students are located – namely, homogeneous and closed networks versus heterogeneous and open networks – explain this difference. Students with closed offline networks have defined expectations of online ties; they think of their online activities as practical and leading to real changes in their status among peers. Those with open networks have indefinite expectations of their online audience; thus, they interpret online activities differently, thinking of them as recreational, and they are playful in their online behaviour. These different outcomes of online activities consequently lead to diverse results in social capital accrual.     

漫谈中美电影中消费文化的差异

本文结合几部影片浅析中美消费文化的差异。     

论网络点击合同下消费者权益的法律保护

点击合同是格式合同在网络环境下的嬗变,是电子商务交易中的主要形式之一。点击合同在信息披露、不公平条款、合同确认方式等方面存在很多亟待解决的新问题,这些问题也直接影响到网络消费者权益的保护。我国应当在借鉴国际先进立法和实践的基础上,对点击合同予以重点监管和规制以适应网络经济发展的需要,为网络消费者权益的保护提供制度保障。     

基于消费者价值的品牌关系形成机理

品牌关系研究是目前品牌科学研究领域的热点课题。在借鉴国内外消费者价值、品牌关系和品牌忠诚等相关研究成果的基础上,提出了由价值感知、品牌情感和品牌忠诚三个要素构成的基于消费者价值的品牌关系结构,并分别从变量和维度两个层面上对这三个要素间的作用关系进行了详细分析,以期从消费者价值整体视角对品牌关系的形成机理进行深入解析。     

鲍德里亚论消费社会中的符号法则及其意识形态布控

早期的鲍德里亚认为,符号法则构成了消费社会的首要法则。符号建筑在差异原则基础上,同时具有超强的意指性和永久的流动性,这使它顺利成为社会权利策略的组成部分。在消费社会中,日常生活平台上的所有物品都幻化成了符号,符号与消费成为资本主义意识形态的共谋,符号消费为人们制造了平等、晋升和关切的幻觉,成为一种更加稳定的、无意识的资本主义社会调节机制。通过符号学的解读,鲍德里亚触碰到了消费社会权力再生产的隐蔽机制,同时他也显示出强烈的解构主义、后现代主义特征。     

影响消费者购买决策的产品属性效用实证分析

本文采用UTASTAR方法,以手机产品为例,从多属性效用这个新视角来评估决策这一因素,研究了七种手机产品对消费者的总效用、各属性的边际效用及各影响因素的重要程度.目前,产品属性影响力大小的获知主要依靠市场调研或网络调研,该文所采用的UTASTAR方法是市场调研方法的补充和完善.论文首先阐述了UTASTAR方法在研究消费者购买决策方面的优势,然后对通过网络挖掘获取的手机属性数据进行定量计算,结果各款手机的总效用排序与实际调查得到的消费者的关注度基本一致.另外,本文计算得到的属性边际效用和属性的权重,能够使营销人员和产品设计人员更好地把握手机产品的重要属性及其重要程度,有利于指导企业制定具有竞争力的产品和市场战略.