James A. Roberts, Chris Pullig and Meredith David
The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating roles of materialism and self-esteem in explaining how family conflict leads to adolescent compulsive buying. Despite…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating roles of materialism and self-esteem in explaining how family conflict leads to adolescent compulsive buying. Despite the importance of family as a primary socialization agent, scant research has focused on how family conflict impacts adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors as consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 1,289 adolescents was conducted in a public high school in the Midwestern USA. Regression analyses were used to assess the mediating roles of materialism and self-esteem on the relationship between family conflict and compulsive buying. Additionally, gender was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between family conflict and the two mediating variables.
Findings
Results showed that family conflict increased adolescent materialism and lowered self-esteem. Gender moderated the relationship between family conflict and self-esteem with a more pronounced effect for females than males. Materialism and self-esteem were significantly related to compulsive buying. Family conflict had a significant indirect effect on compulsive buying through materialism for females and through self-esteem for both male and female.
Research limitations/implications
Findings suggest that family conflict impacts compulsive buying through its impact on both materialism and self-esteem. Future research is needed to explain why adolescents use compulsive buying as a coping mechanism for family conflict. Then, whether such behavior leads to improved well-being.
Practical implications
Results suggest that adolescents use compulsive buying to cope with family conflict. The study’s focus on family conflict, not simply divorce, expands its implications to all households, intact or not.
Originality/value
This study created a new model of family conflict’s impact on adolescent consumers’ attitudes and behavior.
Details
Keywords
Chengwei Liu and Chia-Jung Tsay
Chance models – mechanisms that explain empirical regularities through unsystematic variance – have a long tradition in the sciences but have been historically marginalized in…
Abstract
Chance models – mechanisms that explain empirical regularities through unsystematic variance – have a long tradition in the sciences but have been historically marginalized in management scholarship, relative to an agentic worldview about the role of managers and organizations. An exception is the work of James G. March and his coauthors, who proposed a variety of chance models that explain important management phenomena, including the careers of top executives, managerial risk taking, and organizational anarchy, learning, and adaptation. This paper serves as a tribute to the beauty of these “little ideas” and demonstrates how they can be recombined to generate novel implications. In particular, we focus on the example of an inverted V-shaped performance association centering around the year when executives were featured in a prominent listing, Barron’s annual list of Top 30 chief executive officers. Our recombination of several chance models developed by March and his coauthors provides a novel explanation for why many of the executives’ exceptional performances did not persist. In contrast to the common accounts of complacency, hubris, and statistical regression, the results show that declines from high performance may result from the way luck interacts with these executives’ slow adaptation, incompetence, and self-reinforced risk taking. We conclude by elaborating on the normative implications of chance models, which address many current management and societal challenges. We further encourage the continued development of chance models to help explain performance differences, shifting from accounts that favor heroic stories of corporate leaders toward accounts that favor their changing fortunes.
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In my August 1988 editorial I noted that I wished to start a PC Help column which would give advice and commentary to readers. I am pleased to announce that a colleague of mine…
Abstract
In my August 1988 editorial I noted that I wished to start a PC Help column which would give advice and commentary to readers. I am pleased to announce that a colleague of mine, Jim Roberts, has agreed to contribute a regular column, the first of which is given below. Please write in to me with any questions relating to hardware and software and we will do our utmost to give you the best of advice. (Ed.)
I seem to have spent most of the last few months travelling to meetings to talk about connecting computers together. Of the twenty‐four flights I have made since 1 March this…
Abstract
I seem to have spent most of the last few months travelling to meetings to talk about connecting computers together. Of the twenty‐four flights I have made since 1 March this year, only four left the gate within ten minutes of the scheduled time. The longest delay was 3.5 hours. Kennedy Airport introduced me to a new phenomenon which I could have done without—having to wait on the plane for over an hour before being allowed to disembark into a departure hall for another hour or two. If this is the result of the US Government dropping visa requirements, then I for one would be happy to see it re‐introduced!
My main theme this month was planned to be about Terminate and Stay Residents (TSRs) and other ‘awkward’ programs. It still is in some ways, but the common thread this month is…
Abstract
My main theme this month was planned to be about Terminate and Stay Residents (TSRs) and other ‘awkward’ programs. It still is in some ways, but the common thread this month is now DESQview. I finish off with a few words about upgrading graphics adaptors and monitors.
A number of interesting questions have come in recently. Please keep them coming in.
The basic theme of this issue's column is electronic documents and portable computers. I was surprised myself to discover that these subjects are related. On the subject of…
Abstract
The basic theme of this issue's column is electronic documents and portable computers. I was surprised myself to discover that these subjects are related. On the subject of portable computers, I see the market separating out into four distinct layers. These are the big 386 machines that only run on mains power and could even serve as a desktop machine, the 286 portables that weigh anything from 7 to 15 lb., the lightweight 8086 machines and the new ‘palmtop’ computers. In this issue I look at the last category, reviewing the Atari Portfolio. For anyone interested in portables, there is a review of 73 of them in PC Magazine, 9, 5,13 March 1990.
I only have one general question this month, but in order to do it justice I will have to use most of the column! For the rest of it I shall talk a bit more about interfaces.
I had planned to write about the new international document standards ODA (Office Document Architecture) and SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language) since I have been rather…
Abstract
I had planned to write about the new international document standards ODA (Office Document Architecture) and SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language) since I have been rather involved with these standards recently in terms of which standards meet our particular needs, and which applications actually support these standards. Since this work is ongoing, I finally decided that an article now would be premature. I was then rather at a loss as to the theme for this month's column. Fortunately a couple of loosely related questions arrived on the subject of disks at the same time as several people decided to corrupt a few floppy disks. So the theme for this column is a slightly technical look at disks and some ways to improve the use and avoid misuse of them.