Karen Keen and Lucienne Hellebosch
Much has already been said and written about the future of Pan‐ European advertising, a review of which clearly indicates the existence of two camps among the affected parties.
Tamira King and Charles Dennis
Research reveals alarming results on the prevalence of the dishonest consumer behaviour known as deshopping. Deshopping is the “deliberate return of goods for reasons other than…
Abstract
Research reveals alarming results on the prevalence of the dishonest consumer behaviour known as deshopping. Deshopping is the “deliberate return of goods for reasons other than actual faults in the product, in its pure form premeditated prior to and during the consumption experience”. In effect this means buying something with no intention of keeping it. The authors consider the implications of deshopping and retailers’ prevention of deshopping, exploring the research undertaken to date and the methodology for further research.
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Tamira King and Charles Dennis
Previous research indicates that deshopping is a prevalent and growing consumer behaviour. This paper sets out to examine deshopping from a consumer perspective, and to apply the…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research indicates that deshopping is a prevalent and growing consumer behaviour. This paper sets out to examine deshopping from a consumer perspective, and to apply the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to demonstrate how this behaviour can be managed and prevented with the help of an accompanied (de)shop. It also seeks to place deshopping within a legal and ethical context, in relation to the established literature in this field.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper tests the TPB variables in a qualitative way by conducting in‐depth interviews with deshoppers, who had completed a quantitative questionnaire. The results further support and enhance the quantitative TPB results collected previously with 535 consumers. An accompanied (de)shop is also reviewed, as this qualitative research technique, enables an enhanced understanding and evidence of the deshopping process, which has not been demonstrated previously. The findings demonstrate support for these qualitative research tool, which enable a deeper understanding of the deshopping process and its management.
Findings
The findings demonstrate important use of the TPB as a qualitative research technique. The model is also expanded and redesigned by adding extra variables as a result of this research. The accompanied (de)shop findings demonstrate support for this qualitative research tool, which also enables a deeper understanding of the deshopping process and its management.
Practical implications
The research concludes with the implications of deshopping for the industry and makes recommendations regarding how to reduce deshopping, as well as recommending the qualitative research techniques to be utilised by future researchers.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to place deshopping in a legal framework which highlights the legal loopholes in a retailer's returns policy and the implications of new directives which will influence retailers' abilities to refuse a return. This paper is also the first to explore deshopping within an ethical framework that has created new knowledge on the unethical consumer in relation to deshopping behaviour. This study also incorporates an accompanied (de)shop methodology; this form of research has never been undertaken in relation to deshopping activity and has generated completely new knowledge of what is happening when the actual behaviour is taking place.
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The purpose of this paper is to present the learning gained from undertaking research activities in co-production with young people in order to tackle alcohol misuse in local…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the learning gained from undertaking research activities in co-production with young people in order to tackle alcohol misuse in local communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings are drawn from an evaluation of an alcohol misuse change programme in which opportunities to learn about and conduct research were provided to young people through co-production. The evaluation was guided by a theory of change, and a portfolio of evidence collected which included feedback from the young people and project staff about their experiences.
Findings
This paper demonstrates that young people can be empowered to take on roles as agents of change in their own communities by learning more about research processes. However, the empowerment does not come from undertaking research training per se, but by being able to work co-productively with researchers on issues and questions that are of direct relevance to themselves and which are framed within a change agenda. Shared values, strong relationships and reciprocal knowledge exchange enabling flexible and relevant responses to real-world problems and questions are needed.
Originality/value
The paper suggests a reflexive and co-productive learning, design and delivery approach to involving young people in research. It challenges notions of young people as a problem in terms of alcohol misuse, and rather situates them as part of a solution that is aiming at longer-term transformational community change. This is significant in that much of the existing evidence concentrates on individual intervention.
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This chapter explores the way three teachers developed their primary science teaching in English schools, in an educational climate where training policies and financial pressures…
Abstract
This chapter explores the way three teachers developed their primary science teaching in English schools, in an educational climate where training policies and financial pressures result in few opportunities to do so, meaning many schools resort to in-school support. The training needs of primary teachers vary according to their experience and backgrounds. This research project used a combined model of Lave and Wenger's (1991) community of practice with Bourdieu's social theory model (1999, 2004), specifically on science capital, to explore the opportunities for primary science development as well as teacher agency and identity within the primary school. The research consisted of three case studies of primary teachers, using co-teaching and semi-structured interviews to develop a greater understanding of teachers' beliefs and development in science teaching. Thematic analysis was used to organise and interpret the data using the theoretical framework outlined. The combined theoretical models proved useful in considering the ‘science capital’ as part of their identity as a teacher; they contributed to a school or field. The nature and amount of science capital had an impact on the potential for their science teaching development as well as their identity and agency within the school community of practice.
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The exhaustivity of document descriptions and the specificity of index terms are usually regarded as independent. It is suggested that specificity should be interpreted…
Abstract
The exhaustivity of document descriptions and the specificity of index terms are usually regarded as independent. It is suggested that specificity should be interpreted statistically, as a function of term use rather than of term meaning. The effects on retrieval of variations in term specificity are examined, experiments with three test collections showing in particular that frequently‐occurring terms are required for good overall performance. It is argued that terms should be weighted according to collection frequency, so that matches on less frequent, more specific, terms are of greater value than matches on frequent terms. Results for the test collections show that considerable improvements in performance are obtained with this very simple procedure.
MARISTELLA AGOSTI, MICHELINE BEAULIEU, CYRIL CLEVERDON, HANS‐PETER FREI, NORBERT FUHR, DAVID HARPER, PETER INGWERSEN, MICHAEL KEEN, RAINER KUHLEN, STEPHEN ROBERTSON, ALAN SMEATON, KAREN SPARCK JONES, KEITH VAN RUSBERGEN and PETER WILLETT
Sir, We write to record our debt, and that of our colleagues, to one of the founding fathers of information retrieval, Gerard (Gerry) Salton, who died on 28th August 1995 in…
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Sir, We write to record our debt, and that of our colleagues, to one of the founding fathers of information retrieval, Gerard (Gerry) Salton, who died on 28th August 1995 in Ithaca, ny at the age of 68. Information retrieval was established as a new academic discipline by a small number of pioneers, Gerry among them, who recognised the need for, and the research challenges presented by, the automated indexing, storage and retrieval of text documents. He brought academic rigour and scholarship to establishing the foundations of this discipline, and we acknowledge his influential contributions to the theory, experimental methods, and practice of information retrieval.
Karen Rowlingson and Stephen McKay
There is currently a major debate about the future of pension provision in Britain. Much of that debate concerns levels and sources of income. But there is also growing interest…
Abstract
There is currently a major debate about the future of pension provision in Britain. Much of that debate concerns levels and sources of income. But there is also growing interest in the role that assets and bequests might play in raising people's living standards in later life. Based on a major new survey of attitudes to inheritance and assets, this article argues that assets will not fill the pensions gap for those on the lowest incomes as these groups are least likely to have assets and among those that do, there is more support for the concept of preserving assets for inheritance than among more affluent groups. Bequests will also fail to help those most in need of a windfall as receipt of inheritances currently benefits the most affluent groups. However, among those with assets, there does seem to be more interest in liquidating assets, including housing assets, than previous research has suggested. Some people, therefore, are prepared to liquidate their assets in later life to supplement their income.