Kirsten Jane Robertson, Robert Aitken, Maree Thyne and Leah Watkins
This paper aims to explore the correlates of parental mediation of pre-schoolers’ television advertising exposure, focusing on the influence of other siblings in the home.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the correlates of parental mediation of pre-schoolers’ television advertising exposure, focusing on the influence of other siblings in the home.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants included 486 parents of pre-schoolers. A cross-sectional design involving a quantitative online survey measured the number and age of children in the home, parents’ mediation styles and advertising attitudes, parents’ levels of education and pre-schoolers’ television exposure.
Findings
Co-viewing was the most frequent viewing experience followed by instructive and restrictive mediation. A univariate analysis revealed that parental education and negative attitudes towards advertising were associated with less viewing time for pre-schoolers, although the presence of other siblings mediated this relationship. Logistic regression revealed mediation styles were associated with parental education, attitudes towards advertising, viewing time and the presence of other siblings. Pre-schoolers with an older sibling were less likely to experience co-viewing and more likely to experience instructive mediation.
Research limitations/implications
The findings revealed that parents of pre-schoolers are concerned about advertising to children and actively mediate their child’s exposure. Parental attitudes and education, and sibling composition influence pre-schoolers’ television consumption, and pre-schoolers with an older sibling might be most vulnerable to negative media effects. The sample was limited to primarily higher educated parents and might not generalize.
Originality/value
The study extends the field by focusing on pre-schoolers and provides novel insights into the influence of sibling composition on television consumption.
Details
Keywords
Leah Watkins, Robert Aitken, Maree Thyne, Kirsten Robertson and Dina Borzekowski
The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors influencing young children’s (aged three to five years) understanding of brand symbolism.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors influencing young children’s (aged three to five years) understanding of brand symbolism.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple hierarchical regression was used to analyse the relationships between age, gender and environmental factors, including family and the media, on the development of brand symbolism in pre-school children based on 56 children and parent dyad interviews.
Findings
Results confirmed the primary influence of age, television exposure and parental communication style on three to five-year-old children’s understanding of brand symbolism. The study demonstrates that the tendency to infer symbolic user attributes and non-product-related associations with brands starts as early as two years, and increases with age throughout the pre-school years. Children exposed to more television and less critical parental consumer socialisation strategies are more likely to prefer branded products, believe that brands are better quality and that they make people happy and popular.
Social implications
Identifying the factors that influence the development of symbolic brand associations in pre-school children provides an important contribution to public policy discussions on the impact of marketing to young children.
Originality/value
The paper extends existing research by considering, for the first time, the role of environmental factors in pre-schooler’s understanding of brand symbolism. The results provide a more informed basis for discussion about the impact of marketing messages on very young children and the environmental factors that may lead to a more critical engagement with brands.
Details
Keywords
Maree Thyne, Kirsten Robertson, Leah Watkins and Olly Casey
Children are familiar with retail outlets (especially supermarkets) and the reality of shopping from an increasingly early age. In turn, retailers are actively engaging this young…
Abstract
Purpose
Children are familiar with retail outlets (especially supermarkets) and the reality of shopping from an increasingly early age. In turn, retailers are actively engaging this young market, targeting them through various promotional strategies. One popular strategy adopted by grocery retailers is giveaway collectible set items. The purpose of this paper is to question the ethicality of such campaigns, within the framework of vulnerable consumers by examining children’s opinions of the campaigns and the supermarkets who run them, and the drivers of children’s involvement in the campaigns.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative focus groups were employed with 67 children aged five to ten years. Focus groups were made up of children in similar age groups to cluster responses by age and allow for comparisons. Thematic analysis was undertaken and responses were coded into themes.
Findings
Children were initially driven to collect through promotional advertising or because a third party offered them a collectible. The drivers for subsequent collecting differed between age groups, with younger children more focussed on themes around play and older children (seven and above) collecting through habit, because it was a craze amongst their peers and therefore the collections became items of social currency. Children’s perceptions of the supermarkets motivations also differed by age. Younger children thought supermarkets gave the collectibles away as “gifts” for altruistic reasons. The older children articulated a clear understanding of the economic motives of the organisation including: to attract children to their stores, to encourage pester power and to increase revenue by encouraging customers to buy more. The older children questioned the ethics of the collectible campaigns, referring to them as scams.
Research limitations/implications
The findings extend the important discussion on the nature of children’s vulnerability to advertising by showing that the children’s vulnerability stretches beyond their ability to understand advertising intent. Despite older children in the present study being cognisant of retailers’ intentions they were still vulnerable to the scheme; the embeddedness of the scheme in the social lives of the children meant they lacked agency to opt out of it. Further, the finding that the scheme transcended boundaries in the children’s lives, for instance, being associated with social currency at school, highlights the potential negative impact such schemes can have on the well-being of children.
Originality/value
Until now, research has investigated the motivations that children have to collect, but previous studies have focussed on collections which have been determined by the children. This paper presents the opinions and perceptions of the children who are directly targeted by commercial organisations to collect and raises concerns around the ethicality of such schemes.
Details
Keywords
Khai Trieu Tran, Kirsten Robertson and Maree Thyne
This study aims to explore the barriers that prevent students from moderating their drinking by comparing attitudes towards moderation in a wet (New Zealand) and dry (Vietnam…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the barriers that prevent students from moderating their drinking by comparing attitudes towards moderation in a wet (New Zealand) and dry (Vietnam) drinking culture and examines whether these barriers can be understood by applying an ecological framework.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative survey involving a written vignette was conducted with a sample of 226 and 277 undergraduates from New Zealand and Vietnam, respectively. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Findings
The analysis reveals that students perceive several barriers to moderate drinking at the intrapersonal level (e.g. positive attitude towards drinking), interpersonal level (e.g. peer pressure) and environmental level (e.g. socialising activities), suggesting that an ecological framework is useful for understanding drinking cultures. The response variations between the two countries provide novel insights into cultural differences in students’ perceptions, with external factors being more important and influential in the wet culture and internal influences being of more concern in the dry culture.
Practical implications
The findings highlight that students in the wet drinking culture do not take personal responsibility for their drinking and suggest that social marketing should move beyond individualistic approaches and towards the disruption of drinking cultures/practices, in pursuit of a healthier drinking culture.
Originality/value
This study provides novel insights into the barriers and facilitators of moderating drinking. Further, the findings demonstrate the value of a holistic ecological framework for understanding student drinking cultures. The comparison between two diverse cultures revealed how insights from one culture can help to understand deep-seated practices and meanings in another.
Details
Keywords
Kirsten M. Robertson, Brenda A. Lautsch and David R. Hannah
The purpose of this paper is to examine the processes underlying a systems perspective on work–life balance (WLB), with a particular focus on the tensions and role negotiations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the processes underlying a systems perspective on work–life balance (WLB), with a particular focus on the tensions and role negotiations that arise within and across work and non-work roles.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed a qualitative methodology, conducting 42 interviews with lawyers at large law firms, which is a context notorious for long work hours.
Findings
While a cornerstone of a systems view is that balance is social in nature, and that negotiations occur among stakeholders over role expectations, the process through which this happens has remained unexamined both theoretically and empirically. The authors learned that negotiating around work and non-work role expectations are often contested, complex and fluid. The authors contribute to the literature by elaborating on how these negotiations happen in the legal profession, describing factors that inhibit or facilitate role negotiation and exploring how interdependencies within work systems and across work and non-work systems shape these negotiation processes.
Originality/value
The findings offer a more nuanced conceptualization of the system-level perspective on WLB, and in particular an enriched explanation of work and non-work role negotiation. The authors encourage employers who are interested in promoting WLB to ensure that their employees feel empowered to negotiate their roles, particularly with others in their work systems.
Details
Keywords
The purpose was to find out how lawyers at high-profile legal firms managed WLB.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose was to find out how lawyers at high-profile legal firms managed WLB.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers conducted interviews with 42 lawyers at two law firms in a large West Coast city. Both participating law firms focus on corporate law and employ around 100 lawyers. Interviews took place on site over a three-month period. They lasted between 20 minutes and an hour. Questions covered general experience in the profession, as well as balancing work and non-work lives.
Findings
The answers revealed the tensions between work and non-work experiences. Lawyers were driven to work long hours and expected to respond quickly to clients’ needs. But they had diverse attitudes to WLB. They could broadly be divided into three categories – “work-centric,” “non-work centric,” and “dual-centric.” Their life values were also strongly correlated with gender. Only dual-centric and life-centric female lawyers had actively negotiated alternative work arrangements
Originality/value
There has been very little qualitative research into workplace attitudes to WLB
Details
Keywords
Caitlin Candice Ferreira, Jeandri Robertson and Marnell Kirsten
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the philosophical considerations of fake news and provide an alternative view to current conceptualizations of its binary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the philosophical considerations of fake news and provide an alternative view to current conceptualizations of its binary nature. Through an evaluation of existing research, a typology of fake news is presented that considers the possibility that the propagation of fake news about a brand, may be stemming from the brand itself, a previously unexplored field in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper based on extensive literature review on the fields of fake news and knowledge creation, resulting in the creation of a synthesized typology.
Findings
The role of power structures greatly influences the ability for a brand to respond to fake news. Externally constructed disinformation is seemingly more difficult for a brand to address, as a result of having limited control over the message. Internally constructed information, while stemming from the brand itself provides the brand with more control, but a greater public distrust as the source of the fake news seems to confirm the disinformation.
Practical implications
This paper presents a typology that contrasts the source of the construction of disinformation and the extent to which the facts have been fabricated. Furthermore, this paper provides future researchers with an alternate understanding of the conceptualization of fake news.
Originality/value
This paper is the first of its kind to establish a typology of fake news on the basis of the source of construction of disinformation. The source plays an important role when assessing the associated brand risks and developing an approach to combat potential negative implications.
Details
Keywords
Margarida Abreu Novais, Jane Ali-Knight, Kirsten Holmes, Leonie Lockstone-Binney, Martin Robertson and Hannah Stewart
Gilbert Azuela, Daniel Sutton and Kirsten Van Kessel
Sensory modulation intervention involves using calming and grounding sensory stimuli to support coping with distress and intense emotions. Evaluating the impact of sensory…
Abstract
Purpose
Sensory modulation intervention involves using calming and grounding sensory stimuli to support coping with distress and intense emotions. Evaluating the impact of sensory modulation is challenging in inpatient settings due to the numerous variables influencing outcomes in ward environments. This study aims to determine the impact of sensory modulation across all organisational levels including service users, staff confidence and attitudes, ward climate and seclusion events.
Design/methodology/approach
Organisational case studies were conducted in two Aotearoa New Zealand inpatient mental health services, using qualitative and quantitative data to explore the effects of a sensory modulation programme.
Findings
Results showed that sensory modulation enhanced staff knowledge and confidence in fostering therapeutic relationships and reducing restrictive practices, positively impacted ward climate and provided service users with sensory strategies to use in everyday life.
Practical implications
The findings captured the complexity of implementation and impact of sensory modulation programmes at individual, group and organisational levels. It is important to recognise the influencing factors and impact of sensory modulation across all levels of service delivery.
Originality/value
Organisational case study methodology offered a unique approach to evaluating the impact of sensory modulation within inpatient mental health services. Data analysis suggests that in addition to managing acute service user distress, sensory modulation impacts broader staff, team and service level outcomes.