Mark McKeague, Sam Norton and Martha Canfield
The purpose of this paper is to identify factors associated with drinking patterns during pregnancy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify factors associated with drinking patterns during pregnancy.
Design/methodology/approach
A rapid evidence assessment was undertaken, scanning multiple databases for studies examining factors associated with alcohol consumption in pregnancy. Studies were included if they stratified data according to quantity of alcohol consumed and identified relevant associated factors. Drinking patterns were classified as light/moderate and heavy/binge.
Findings
In total, 15 studies were included (N=7 light/moderate; N=15 heavy/binge drinking). Factors associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy included: smoking, age, SES, marital status, pre-pregnancy substance use and parity. While few studies reported an association between heavy/binge drinking and maternal mental health, none of the studies included explored the association between mental health and light/moderate drinking.
Research limitations/implications
Relatively few studies have looked at the association between psychological characteristics of women and their drinking patterns. There is a lack of articles examining light/moderate drinking in pregnancy compared to heavy/binge drinking. Moreover, there is marked variation in how alcohol use is measured. Further studies are needed to increase understanding of the association between psychological factors and patterns of drinking during pregnancy, and how health professionals might support women in this context.
Originality/value
The authors expand on previous work by examining two different patterns of alcohol consumption in pregnancy, rather than alcohol use simply as an isolated concept. The two groups were found to differ in a number of demographic and social factors. This information could be used to aid healthcare professionals in targeting specific interventions to those women most at risk.
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The discussion of climate change and energy problems is generally based on the assumption that technical solutions are possible and that the task is essentially to determine the…
Abstract
Purpose
The discussion of climate change and energy problems is generally based on the assumption that technical solutions are possible and that the task is essentially to determine the most effective ways. This view relies heavily on the expectation that renewable energy sources can be substituted for fossil fuels. The purpose of this paper is to improve on an earlier attempt to estimate the investment cost that would be involved in deriving total world energy supply from renewable sources.
Design/methodology/approach
This discussion improves on an earlier attempt to estimate the investment cost that would be involved in deriving total world energy supply from renewable sources. It takes common assumptions re future energy demand and estimates of future output and capital costs of major renewable energy sources and explores four strategies for supplying global energy demand in 2050.
Findings
This paper finds that the greenhouse and energy problems cannot be solved by action on the supply side, i.e. by technical developments which promise to provide quantities taken for granted in energy‐intensive societies. This general “limits to growth” perspective is that these and the other major global problems can only be solved by action on the demand side, i.e. by moving to ways, values, institutions and systems which greatly reduce the need for materials, energy and ecological resources.
Research limitations/implications
Confidence in the conclusions is limited mainly by the lack of evidence at this point in time on the actual difficulties set by the problem of integrating the intermittent sources, and the resulting need for redundant plant.
Practical implications
Each of the four strategies explored requires large amounts of redundant plant to be able to cope with the intermittency problem. Each leads to total system capital costs which are well beyond affordable levels.
Social implications
The findings add to the general “limits to growth” case that solutions to the global energy and other sustainability problems cannot be achieved within consumer‐capitalist society but must be sought via dramatic reductions in production, consumption and GDP. This would require radical system change from the commitment to growth, market systems and affluent lifestyles, to what is described as The Simpler Way.
Originality/value
It does not seem that this approach has previously been taken to the specific issue of the potential and limits of renewable energy. Little or no attention has been given to the thesis that global sustainability and justice require transition to some kind of Simpler Way.
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Jordan L. LeBel and Nathalie Cooke
The purpose of this research is to examine the nature of consumers' relationships with branded spokescharacters by drawing upon brand personality theory and reader‐response…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine the nature of consumers' relationships with branded spokescharacters by drawing upon brand personality theory and reader‐response theory, focusing specifically on food trade characters. We aim to show that the persuasive power of these characters resides not only in their appearance, but also in the complex narratives consumers project (sometimes unwittingly) onto the spokescharacter.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports the results of a survey – blending quantitative and qualitative methodologies – designed to document consumer perceptions, affective responses and spontaneous associations to different characters (i.e. Aunt Jemima, Robin Hood, Betty Crocker, Uncle Ben, Poppin' Fresh the Pillsbury's Doughboy, and M. Felix and Mr Norton, characters created by a Montreal‐based cookie company).
Findings
The results revealed that consumers associate spokescharacters with distinct personality profiles. Also, a connection was found between spokescharacters and narrative: a relationship where the characters become part of a larger narrative paradigm and more importantly, a relationship where the consumer is cast in a specific role vis‐à‐vis the spokescharacter.
Practical implications
These results should invite brand managers to stay current with the variety of associations that consumers form and how these associations influence the perception of their brand's personality. The results further underscore the need to understand the role into which consumers are cast vis‐à‐vis a branded character. Future research should examine cross cultural differences in the perception and narratives of branded characters, especially since many multinational companies use branded characters across cultural divides.
Originality/value
The paper shows how consumers play an active role in rendering a spokescharacter likeable, credible, and even memorable and documents the narratives that engage consumers and are both constructed collaboratively with them and propagated by them.
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Denitsa Dineva and Kate L. Daunt
Research into the dark side of online brand-managed communities (OBCs) and, specifically, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) conflicts within this context are scarce. This paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Research into the dark side of online brand-managed communities (OBCs) and, specifically, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) conflicts within this context are scarce. This paper aims to explore the different forms of C2C conflicts in OBCs, measure their direct impact on observing consumers and brands and investigate their appropriate moderation by exclusively focusing on two actors: brands versus consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts a sequential exploratory approach. First, the authors capture different forms of C2C conflict via netnographic observations of five brand-managed communities. Second, the identified forms of C2C conflict are used in an online experiment to examine their impact on OBCs’ social and commercial outcomes. Third, further two online experiments were used to assess how brand versus consumer conflict moderators impact perceived credibility and conflict de-escalation.
Findings
The authors uncover three prominent forms of C2C conflict based on whether conflict occurs between supporters, non-supporters or outsiders of the OBC. The authors further show that these affect consumers’ engagement behaviours and emotional responses, while brands suffer from diminished credibility and could be targets of unfavourable electronic word-of-mouth. Finally, for managing C2C conflict, the findings confirm that brands are perceived as more suitable, while under certain conditions consumers can also be viewed as appropriate moderators.
Research limitations/implications
This research used a range of participant self-selected brands and is limited to brand-managed (as opposed to consumer-managed) communities on Facebook. While beyond the scope of this paper, the dynamics for consumer-managed communities may differ.
Practical implications
This article offers guidance to marketing practitioners on the different nuances of undesirable consumer interactions in brand-managed communities on social media, their impact on customer engagement and brand perceptions and when/whether brands or consumers may be suited to moderating these.
Originality/value
This paper makes novel contributions to the literature on consumer (mis)behaviours and OBC management. The findings are among the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to examine the direct social and commercial consequences of C2C conflicts and to provide comparative insights into the appropriateness of two different moderators in OBCs.
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Marilyn Ee and Yan Zhang
The purpose of this exploratory study is to expand on a previously developed crime harm index – the California Crime Harm Index (CA-CHI) – by discussing the development of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this exploratory study is to expand on a previously developed crime harm index – the California Crime Harm Index (CA-CHI) – by discussing the development of the CA-CHI and presenting a comparison of the distribution of crime count and harm in a large Western city in the United States.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used descriptive analyses, spatial univariate mapping and bivariate choropleth maps to analyze the distribution of Part I crime counts and harm.
Findings
Results of the analysis show that while there was some variation in the distribution of crime count and harm city wide, spatial mapping and statistics reveal that the geographical distribution of crime count and harm across census tracts are largely consistent.
Research limitations/implications
Minor discrepancies between the distribution of crime count and harm indicate the potential for the CA-CHI to inform law enforcement practices. However, the distributions remain largely similar at the census tract level. There is room for further development of the CA-CHI to better distinguish between the distribution of crime harm and volume.
Originality/value
No other study has used spatial mapping techniques like bivariate choropleth mapping to examine the distribution of crime volume and crime harm based on the CA-CHI in any location in California.
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Accounting’s definition of accountability should include attributes of socioenvironmental degradation manufactured by unsustainable technologies. Beck argues that emergent…
Abstract
Accounting’s definition of accountability should include attributes of socioenvironmental degradation manufactured by unsustainable technologies. Beck argues that emergent accounts should reflect the following primary characteristics of technological degradation: complexity, uncertainty, and diffused responsibility. Financial stewardship accounts and probabilistic assessments of risk, which are traditionally employed to allay the public’s fear of uncontrollable technological hazards, cannot reflect these characteristics because they are constructed to perpetuate the status quo by fabricating certainty and security. The process through which safety thresholds are constructed and contested represents the ultimate form of socialized accountability because these thresholds shape how much risk people consent to be exposed to. Beck’s socialized total accountability is suggested as a way forward: It has two dimensions, extended spatiotemporal responsibility and the psychology of decision-making. These dimensions are teased out from the following constructs of Beck’s Risk Society thesis: manufactured risks and hazards, organized irresponsibility, politics of risk, radical individualization and social learning. These dimensions are then used to critically evaluate the capacity of full cost accounting (FCA), and two emergent socialized risk accounts, to integrate the multiple attributes of sustainability. This critique should inform the journey of constructing more representative accounts of technological degradation.
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Cheryl J. Craig, Rakesh Verma, Donna W. Stokes, Paige K. Evans and Bobby Abrol
This research examines the influence of parents on students studying the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and entering STEM careers…
Abstract
This research examines the influence of parents on students studying the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and entering STEM careers. Participating youths were awarded scholarships from large funded US grant programmes. Cases of two graduate students (one female, one male) and one undergraduate student (male) are featured. The first two students in the convenience sample are biology and physics majors in a STEM teacher education program; the third is enrolled in computer science. National reports emphasizing the importance of parents on their children's education are presented, along with diverse international literature. The use of narrative in STEM curriculum and narrative inquiry in STEM research are also documented. Experience, story, and identity form the study's conceptual frame. The narrative inquiry research method employs broadening, burrowing, and storying and restorying to elucidate the students' academic trajectories. Incidents of circumstantial and planned parent curriculum making surfaced when the data were serially interpreted. Other noteworthy themes included: (1) relationships between (student) learners and (teacher) parents, (2) invitations to inquiry, (3) modes of inquiry, (4) the improbability of certainty, and (5) changed narratives = changed lives. While policy briefs provide sweeping statements about parents' positive effects on their children, narrative inquiries such as this one illuminate parents' inquiry moves within home environments. These actions became retrospectively revealed in their adult children's lived narratives. These small stories, while not generalizable, map how students, shaped by their parents' nurturing, enter the STEM disciplines and STEM-related careers through multiple pathways in addition to the identified pipeline.
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Marc Dupuis, Rosalind Searle and Karen V. Renaud
The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of grace in the aftermaths of adverse cybersecurity incidents. Adverse incidents are an inescapable fact of life in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of grace in the aftermaths of adverse cybersecurity incidents. Adverse incidents are an inescapable fact of life in organizational settings; consequences could be significant and costly. Increasingly, the cause may be a cybersecurity exploit, such as a well-targeted phishing email. In the aftermath, line managers have a choice in responding to the individual who caused the incident. Negative emotions, such as shame and regret, may deliberately be weaponized. Alternatively, positive emotions, such as grace, forgiveness and mercy, may come into play.
Design/methodology/approach
We detail a study with 60 participants to explore attribution differences in response to adverse incidents, both non-cybersecurity and cybersecurity. We examined the stages that occur in the aftermath of such adverse incidents where grace may be observed.
Findings
Our participants generally believed that grace was indicated toward those who triggered an adverse cybersecurity incident, pointing to situational causes. This was in stark contrast to their responses to the non-cybersecurity incident, where the individual was often blamed, with punishment being advocated.
Research limitations/implications
The role of positive emotions merits investigation in the cybersecurity context if we are to understand how best to manage the aftermaths of adverse cybersecurity incidents.
Practical implications
Organizations that mismanage aftermaths of adverse incidents by blaming, shaming and punishing those who make mistakes will harm the individual who made the mistake, other employees and the long-term health of their organization in the long run.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to reveal the grace phenomenon in the cybersecurity context.