Jillian Dawes Farquhar, Tracy Panther and Len Tiu Wright
The purpose of this paper is to examine multiple channels in retail banking and demonstrate how qualitative market research investigations can inform strategic decision making…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine multiple channels in retail banking and demonstrate how qualitative market research investigations can inform strategic decision making. Research into customer acquisition and retention has only recently begun to consider them as part of a single marketing process Inviting exploratory qualitative expert investigation.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the literature suggested an outline guide for interviewing a selection of expert informants, from a variety of high‐street banks and building societies. The interview data were analysed using both computer‐aided and manual techniques in parallel as part of strengthening the findings.
Findings
The analysis of the interview data suggest five themes of that make up the management of channels in UK high‐street banks that have an impact on customer acquisition and retention and which are as follows: customer groups, interaction style, relationship and loyalty, networks and service and satisfaction.
Originality/value
The themes identified in this preliminary investigation provide a model that maps five aspects that underpin customer acquisition and retention in traditional high‐street banks including for the purposes of this research, building societies in the UK.
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Most US activists place a high priority on elections. The default strategy for those seeking policy change is some combination of electoral campaigning and pressure campaigns…
Abstract
Most US activists place a high priority on elections. The default strategy for those seeking policy change is some combination of electoral campaigning and pressure campaigns targeting politicians. Yet policies show a high degree of continuity across recent presidential administrations. Despite substantial differences in rhetoric and legislative agendas, the policies resulting from Republican and Democratic presidencies have stayed within a narrow range, defined by the promotion of corporate profits, the impunity of law enforcement agencies, the defense of imperial prerogatives, and nearly unfettered ecological destruction. Focusing on the Trump and Biden presidencies, I analyze some of the structural barriers that inhibit major policy change. I also explore why the ruling class as a whole has not yet united against parasitic industries like fossil fuels and pharmaceuticals that endanger the interests of other capitalists. I argue that activists must move beyond electoral and legislative approaches by directly disrupting ruling-class interests that have the power to change policy. Only then will we win major progressive reform.
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Since its inception in the 1980s, solidarity has been one of the structuring elements of Haitian hip-hop. In this sense, what an artist could not do on his own for lack of…
Abstract
Since its inception in the 1980s, solidarity has been one of the structuring elements of Haitian hip-hop. In this sense, what an artist could not do on his own for lack of financial means, peer groups enable him to achieve. Given Haiti's precarious socioeconomic context, the possibility of mobilizing more friends and colleagues makes it easier to cope with financial worries and other difficulties. Drawing on material from 36 in-depth semi-structured interviews, this chapter examines practices of solidarity and mutual aid in the world of hip-hop in Port-au-Prince. Drawing on Becker's theory of the art world and Soulet's theory of solidarity, this chapter analyzes the artistic practices through which rappers develop forms of solidarity and mutual aid to cope with various financial and social difficulties. I seek to understand the way rappers organize themselves, which can be likened to the Haitian konbit, a form of solidarity that emerged in the aftermath of independence and continues to this day. This study shows that hip-hop strengthens the social bonds between rappers in working-class neighborhoods, where lifestyles are based on solidarity and mutual aid.
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The study explores the ways hypermasculine aggression is both communicated and resisted in prisons.
Abstract
Purpose
The study explores the ways hypermasculine aggression is both communicated and resisted in prisons.
Design/methodology/approach
It is based on ethnographic observation conducted at two correctional facilities: a mixed-security prison for young men where the author has facilitated conflict transformation workshops since 2006 and a maximum-security prison for men where she has taught a weekly writing class since 2007.
Findings
It found that performances of masculinity among both prisoners and prison guards are frequently structured around symbolic expressions of violence, but that both groups also engage in supportive behaviors that communicate the possibility of nonviolent caring male identity.
Research limitations
The study was limited to two correctional institutions in one state in the United States. Conditions at other correctional facilities may lead to different types of gendered performance. Also, in the tense atmosphere of a prison, neither inmates nor corrections officers express themselves fully in the presence of an outside observer.
Social implications
The violent masculinities valued and practiced in prisons replicate in communities and institutions beyond the prison walls. Attention to the alternative masculinities practiced in correctional institutions can help scholars challenge the destructive ideologies of hegemonic masculinity and reduce its prevalence; it can influence policy makers to establish more humane conditions and procedures of benefit to individuals, families, and communities.
Originality/value
The study is of value to scholars of gender, culture, and social justice; to policy makers interested in criminal justice reform; and to activists and people of conscience seeking to reduce violence on both sides of the bars.
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Gabe Ignatow, Nicholas Evangelopoulos and Konstantinos Zougris
The authors apply topic sentiment analysis (several relatively new text analysis methods) to the study of public opinion as expressed in social media by comparing reactions to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors apply topic sentiment analysis (several relatively new text analysis methods) to the study of public opinion as expressed in social media by comparing reactions to the Trayvon Martin controversy in spring 2012 by commenters on the partisan news websites the Huffington Post and Daily Caller.
Methodology/approach
Topic sentiment analysis is a text analysis method that estimates the polarity of sentiments across units of text within large text corpora (Lin & He, 2009; Mei, Ling, Wondra, Su, & Zhai, 2007).
Findings
We apply topic sentiment analysis to public opinion as expressed in social media by comparing reactions to the Trayvon Martin controversy in spring 2012 by commenters on the partisan news websites the Huffington Post and Daily Caller. Based on studies that depict contemporary news media as an “outrage industry” that incentivizes media personalities to be controversial and polarizing (Berry & Sobieraj, 2014), we predict that high-profile commentators will be more polarizing than other news personalities and topics.
Originality/value
Results of the topic sentiment analysis support this prediction and in so doing provide partial validation of the application of topic sentiment analysis to online opinion.