Leonidas C. Leonidou, Dayananda Palihawadana and Michael A. Talias
The article aims to identify differences in consumers' evaluations of goods made in either the USA or China at different levels of analysis; to trace variations in consumers'…
Abstract
Purpose
The article aims to identify differences in consumers' evaluations of goods made in either the USA or China at different levels of analysis; to trace variations in consumers' evaluations with regard to various cues characterizing US or Chinese goods; and to provide a comparison of consumers' evaluations between US and Chinese goods at different levels of analysis and across different product cues.
Design/methodology/approach
The study builds hypotheses that correspond to each of the three research objectives. Information was received through personal interviews from a sample of 404 British consumers, aged 18 years and above. Respondents were randomly selected at central locations using a systematic stratified procedure. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire, with questions focusing separately on the USA and China, at five different levels of analysis, and in six different categories of product cues. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the reliability and validity of the scales were found to be satisfactory. The hypotheses were tested using either student‐t or ANOVA statistics.
Findings
The results provide support to all three hypotheses, revealing that there are significant differences in consumer evaluations across the various levels of analysis, caused mainly by the brand, which overshadows country‐of‐origin effects in the case of the USA, but emphasizes these effects in that of Chinese goods.
Research limitations/implications
The results of the study have serious implications for corporate and public policy‐makers, especially for the countries involved in the analysis. These implications should be seen within the context of various geographical, product, time, and other limitations, which provide the basis for undertaking future research on the subject.
Originality/value
As opposed to extant research on country‐of‐origin effects, the study offers a multi‐level and multi‐cue comparison for products manufactured by two major actors in the international trade arena (USA and China), as these are perceived by consumers living in an important developed market (the UK).
Details
Keywords
Elpidoforos S Soteriades, Loukas Petrokokkinos, Michael A Talias, Andreas Zissimos, Maria Kolovou, Constantinos Potiriadis, Vasiliki Kamenopoulou and Evangelos Georgiou
Radon is responsible for approximately 50 per cent of public exposure to environmental radiation. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively assess indoor radon levels in…
Abstract
Purpose
Radon is responsible for approximately 50 per cent of public exposure to environmental radiation. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively assess indoor radon levels in Cyprus.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 500 passive radon detectors were used to estimate radon levels in the areas of Nicosia (capital), Paphos, Nisou and Famagusta. A total of 240 different public and private buildings were randomly selected in the above districts and two passive radon detectors were placed inside each building. The detectors were collected on average, three months following placement.
Findings
The average radon level from all passive detectors was 53.7 and 49.2 Bq/m3 after excluding the seven highest values. The two highest measurements were observed in Paphos, Tsada-Kili elementary school (429 Bq/m3) and Emba, Paphos district (410 Bq/m3), respectively. Differences were also seen in public buildings compared to private buildings (p=0.058). In addition, rural buildings had higher radon levels compared to urban buildings (p=0.001). Predictive multilevel regression models for logarithmic radon levels were employed and differences were seen on point estimates regarding building- and district-level radon measurements. Most of the random variability observed was due to building-level variation.
Practical implications
Residents from different geographic areas in Cyprus are reassured about the safety of indoor radon levels in public and private buildings.
Originality/value
The estimation of indoor radon levels was done by the optical microscopy technique using a specific mathematical formula. Observed radon levels do not raise concern regarding residents’ radon exposure in Cyprus. Paphos district and Nisou area may require further investigation.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to explore the gendered narratives of change management at Marks and Spencer (M&S) and uses them as a lens to consider the gendered nature of the change process…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the gendered narratives of change management at Marks and Spencer (M&S) and uses them as a lens to consider the gendered nature of the change process itself.
Design/methodology/approach
Two extant stories: Sleeping Beauty and the Trojan War are taken, along with the cultural archetype of the American West gunslinger to explore the gender aspects of change. The Marks and Spencer case is analysed using the corollary patriarchal narrative of Sleeping Beauty, a story whose organising logic is revealed as one of concern for patriarchal lineage, and legitimate succession. The paper, draws on the Marks and Spencer principals' memoirs and biographies.
Findings
Sleeping Beauty is shown as a narrative saturated in misogyny, aggression and violence. This violence, which is shown to characterise the Marks and Spencer case, is amplified in the second narrative, the Trojan War, in the highly personalised battles of the über‐warriors of The Iliad. The paper concludes that violent, hyper‐masculine behaviour creates and maintains a destructive cycle of leadership lionisation and failure at the company which precludes a more feminine and possibly more effective construction of change management.
Originality/value
Demonstrates how M&S, gendered from its birth, its development through the golden years, the crisis, its changes in leadership and its recent change management has attempted to respond to its changing environment.
Details
Keywords
Sewanu Awhangansi, Michael Lewis, Khalid Karim, Jibril Abdulmalik, Philip Archard, Adeniran Okewole and Michelle O'Reilly
This paper aims to report a non-randomized control study undertaken to investigate prevalence and correlates of conduct disorder among male secondary education students in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report a non-randomized control study undertaken to investigate prevalence and correlates of conduct disorder among male secondary education students in South-West Nigeria and to assess the impact of a problem-solving skills and attributional retraining (PSSAR) intervention with this population.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 787 male students from two schools were screened for conduct disorder. All participants who met criteria for the disorder were allocated to either treatment (n = 55) or control (n = 47) groups. Outcome measures comprised the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ; teacher and student versions) and the teacher rating of students’ aggressive behaviors.
Findings
Of the sample, 13% were found to present with difficulties that met criteria for conduct disorder. The presence of these difficulties correlated with several demographic variables, including parental conflict and alcohol use. A statistically significant reduction in mean scores was observed for the treatment group in the student rating of the SDQ emotional subscale and total difficulties scores. Teacher ratings were less consistent in that conduct problems, prosocial behavior and total difficulties increased following the intervention, whereas peer problems and aggressive behavior were reported by teachers to reduce. No statistically significant change was found in the outcome measures for the control group.
Practical implications
In resource-constrained settings, school-based interventions are an important means through which treatment gaps in child and adolescent mental health can be addressed.
Originality/value
In resource-constrained settings, school-based interventions are an important means through which treatment gaps in child and adolescent mental health can be addressed. This study’s findings offer some preliminary support for the PSSAR intervention for conduct disorder in this context and indicate areas for further research.
Details
Keywords
It is widely recognized by scholars that superhero stories tend to glorify vigilante justice; after all, these stories often maintain that extralegal acts of violence are…
Abstract
It is widely recognized by scholars that superhero stories tend to glorify vigilante justice; after all, these stories often maintain that extralegal acts of violence are necessary for combatting existential threats to personal and public safety. This scholarly common sense fosters a widespread dismissal of superhero stories as uncomplicated apologia for an authoritarian politics of law and order that is animated by hatred of unpopular people and ideas. However, some prominent contemporary Batman stories, including those told in the graphic novels of Grant Morrison and in the blockbuster movies of Christopher Nolan, are ambivalent: in their portraits of Batman and Joker as dark twins and secret colleagues, these stories both legitimize and challenge the countersubversive politics of American law and order.
Details
Keywords
The Hon K.C. Beazley MP, Australia's Minister for Defence recently visited Marconi Communication Systems Ltd (MCSL) Chelmsford. During the visit he witnessed a demonstration of a…
Abstract
The Hon K.C. Beazley MP, Australia's Minister for Defence recently visited Marconi Communication Systems Ltd (MCSL) Chelmsford. During the visit he witnessed a demonstration of a new, high‐power, high‐frequency transmitter designed for the Alice Springs experimental Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR). The facility will provide Australia with the world's most advanced operational land‐based early‐warning system with the ability to detect and display targets at distances greater than two thousand kilometres. In contrast, conventional radar systems, such as those used by air traffic control, have a range of only a few hundred kilometres.
Judith Barak is the former head of the ACE program, is currently head of the graduate school of education at Kaye Academic College of Education in Beer Sheva, Israel. Her work…
Abstract
Judith Barak is the former head of the ACE program, is currently head of the graduate school of education at Kaye Academic College of Education in Beer Sheva, Israel. Her work focuses on educational innovations and creating collaborative relations. Her research aims at a deeper understanding of learning environments and their interrelations to professional development processes. She is involved mostly in collaborative self-study stemming from her lived experiences. Recent publications include “From the inside out: Learning to understand and appreciate multiple voices through telling identities” (2009), “‘Without stones there is no arch’: A study of professional development of teacher educators as a team” (2010), and “Conversations in a collaborative space: From stories to concepts to dimensions” (2010).