Do social interactions matter for borrowing behaviour of the Europeans aged 50+?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Fernández-López ◽  
Djamila Daoudi ◽  
Lucía Rey-Ares
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Mortgage Debt ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Household Borrowing ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the linkage between households' social interactions and credit context and how these interactions may influence household borrowing decisions.Design/methodology/approachBased on a sample of 45,907 individuals referred to 18 countries, drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, different probit regressions are used to test the four hypotheses proposed.FindingsEmpirical evidence confirms that intensive and extensive sociability are positively related to consumer debt holding. However, when social activities are considered separately, there is weak evidence that they are also related to mortgage debt holding and over-indebtedness. Moreover, at this level of analysis, the different nature of the social activities in which the individual participates in may condition the relationship with borrowing behaviour. The findings also show that relative income plays a passive role in household borrowing behaviour, since low-income households are more likely to hold mortgage and informal loans or to be over-indebted in highly indebted countries.Originality/valueFirst, this paper extends the knowledge of the relationship between social interactions and borrowing behaviour by considering not only the intensity and diversity of the social activities in which the individual participates, but also the different nature of these activities. Second, it proposes that social interactions may play a passive role on borrowing decision, suggesting that household's behaviour might be passively affected by the density of borrowers surrounding it. To the best of our knowledge, there has not been any attempt to test this issue regarding household borrowing decisions. Third, unlike the few empirical papers on the topic, the paper also analyses previous issues by distinguishing between different types of debts; a distinction that revels the different role played by social interactions.

The importance of distance and attraction in patronizing a shopping mall

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsela Thanasi-Boçe ◽  
Piotr Kwiatek ◽  
Lasha Labadze
Keyword(s):  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Shopping Mall ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Shopping Malls ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Level

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to establish mall attractiveness factors in Kuwait, examine the relationship between mall dimensions and mall patronage and explore the impact of mall size and distance on mall patronage. Design/methodology/approach Data from 190 shopping mall visitors were analyzed using Stata software. Factor analysis was used to identify the mall attraction factors, and regression models were run to analyze their relationships with people’s frequency of visits to shopping malls and the amount of time spent per visit. Findings The results unearth five important factors, namely, performance of buying, entertainment, social activities, physical atmosphere and location. Analysis reveals that the performance of buying and social activities factors had a significant impact on the frequency of visits, while the amount of time spent per visit was significantly affected only by the social activities factor. Furthermore, mall size is more important than distance to the mall. Finally, gender differences in shoppers’ mall preferences and behaviors were reported. Practical implications On the practical level, shopping mall developers and managers can use the attraction scale to develop attractive malls and effective marketing strategies. Researchers can use findings to confirm the factors extracted in the study and for further research on the topic. Originality/value This study extends theories on consumers’ preferences and behaviors. It provides empirical evidence about the impact of attractive mall dimensions on shoppers’ patronage in Kuwait, an understudied context.

Do corporate volunteering programs and perceptions of corporate morality impact perceived employer attractiveness?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Oliveira ◽  
Teresa Proença ◽  
Marisa R. Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Business Environment ◽  
Job Market ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Volunteering ◽  
The Social ◽  
Individual Cognition ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Positive Direct ◽  
Employer Attractiveness ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Rather recently, corporate volunteering (CV) has become a relevant topic of academic research. Nonetheless, there is still uncertainty about several aspects of the relationship between volunteerism and the corporate realm and research on the relationship between CV and employer attractiveness is scarce. This study aims to attempt to fill this gap by studying the influence that the perceived importance attributed by prospective applicants to the opportunity of engaging in CV programs may have on employer attractiveness while also pondering the existence of an indirect relationship between CV and employer attractiveness mediated by the individual cognition of corporate morality (CM). Design/methodology/approach To fulfill the objectives of this research, and test its hypothesized model, the authors opted to use a quantitative methodology via survey by questionnaire of Portuguese students who are close to entering the job-seeking process or are currently involved in it, either passively and actively. Data on 238 Portuguese students was collected mainly through social media channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook and was analyzed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software and the IBM SPSS AMOS extension, using a structural equation model to test the hypotheses and obtain insight into the relationships between the variables. Findings A theoretical model was elaborated based on the literature reviewed and was used to validate the existence of a positive direct relationship between CV and employer attractiveness, CV and CM and between CM and employer attractiveness. Finally, it was observed that CV could prompt an indirect effect on the socioethical perception of employer attractiveness, mainly due to the mediating mechanism of the individual cognition of CM. Research limitations/implications This study has some limitations that should be acknowledged and considered in future studies, namely, the diversity of the sample, as it was essentially formed by students enrolled in the University of Porto and studying mainly in the areas of social sciences, trade and law. It is also worth noting that a global analysis of the employer attractiveness attributes was not considered, focusing instead on the social and ethical spectrum of employer attractiveness. Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that different individuals prioritize distinct attractiveness attributes. Practical implications Through the present study, it was understood that CV programs constitute a desired and pertinent tool that should be adopted by firms (employers) to establish a strong position in the job market. These findings are particularly useful for the area of human resources management, which is in charge of finding the most adequate applicants in the job market. Furthermore, for the variable of CM, the authors noticed that there is a theoretical lack of measurement instruments. Consequently, the measure advanced in this study represents an important theoretical and methodologic contribution to the literature. Social implications CV is a concept that is yet maturing within the Portuguese business environment. As such, this study delivers useful insights regarding Portuguese applicants’ growing interest around CV, their concerns about the social, ethical and humanitarian attributes of firms and their beliefs regarding the morality of firms’ social policies and actions. Hence, it allowed us to comprehend that by developing a structured CV program, an employer may be able to enhance other essential concepts for Portuguese prospective applicants, respectively, employer attractiveness and CM. Originality/value This study corroborates the premise that corporate community involvement activities, namely, CV, hold a positive effect in terms of perceived employer attractiveness. Moreover, it is consistent with the idea that CV programs foment a feeling of intimacy between individuals and firms, consequently creating a perception of morality as part of the firms’ intrinsic traits. Finally, it corroborates and extends for the case of prospective applicants the conclusion that individuals may be relatively more concerned with the motives behind firms’ corporate social responsibility practices than with the content of such practices.

scholarly journals ACTIVE ethics: an information systems ethics for the internet age

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Kenneth McBride
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Moral Worth ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internet Age ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a novel mnemonic, ACTIVE, inspired by Mason's 1985 PAPA mnemonic, which will help researchers and IT professionals develop an understanding of the major issues in information ethics. Design/methodology/approach – Theoretical foundations are developed for each element of the mnemonic by reference to philosophical definitions of the terms used and to virtue ethics, particularly MacIntyrean virtue ethics. The paper starts with a critique of the elements of the PAPA mnemonic and then proceeds to develop an understanding of each of the elements of ACTIVE ethics, via a discussion of the underpinning virtue ethics. Findings – This paper identifies six issues, described by the mnemonic, ACTIVE. ACTIVE stands for: autonomy, the ability of the individual to manage their own information and make choice; community, the ethical effect of an information systems on the community which it supports; transparency, the extent to which the derivation of content and process in an information system is made clear; identity, the social and ethical effect of an information system on the definition and maintenance of the distinctive characteristics of a person; value, the value or moral worth placed on information associated with an individual and hence on the relationship with the individual; and empathy, the ability of the information systems professional to emotionally connect with the user and the extent to which the information system distances or connects. Originality/value – The paper applies virtue ethics to developing a tool to help information professionals reflect on their ethical practice in developing and supporting information systems.

Employee performance appraisals

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 38-40
Keyword(s):  
Employee Performance ◽  
Performance Appraisals ◽  
Performance Ratings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Traditional ritualistic annual appraisals are no longer favored, with many companies loosening the relationship between performance ratings and pay. The social and psychological aspects of appraisals are often overlooked. A balance of informal and formal processes is important, with continual feedback and dialogue. The skillset of managers is key to ensuring employees feel satisfied with the process and view outcomes as being fair. A good employment relationship thus leads to increased employee cooperation and performance, and increased outcomes for both the individual and the organization. Originality The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Value-driven issues throughout the development of sociological theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-160
Author(s):  
Gulbarshyn Chepurko ◽  
Valerii Pylypenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social System ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Levels

The paper examines and compares how the major sociological theories treat axiological issues. Value-driven topics are analysed in view of their relevance to society in times of crisis, when both societal life and the very structure of society undergo dramatic change. Nowadays, social scientists around the world are also witnessing such a change due to the emergence of alternative schools of sociological thought (non-classical, interpretive, postmodern, etc.) and, subsequently, the necessity to revise the paradigms that have been existed in sociology so far. Since the above-mentioned approaches are often used to address value-related issues, building a solid theoretical framework for these studies takes on considerable significance. Furthermore, the paradigm revision has been prompted by technological advances changing all areas of people’s lives, especially social interactions. The global human community, integral in nature, is being formed, and production of human values now matters more than production of things; hence the “expansion” of value-focused perspectives in contemporary sociology. The authors give special attention to collectivities which are higher-order units of the social system. These units are described as well-organised action systems where each individual performs his/her specific role. Just as the role of an individual is distinct from that of the collectivity (because the individual and the collectivity are different as units), so too a distinction is drawn between the value and the norm — because they represent different levels of social relationships. Values are the main connecting element between the society’s cultural system and the social sphere while norms, for the most part, belong to the social system. Values serve primarily to maintain the pattern according to which the society is functioning at a given time; norms are essential to social integration. Apart from being the means of regulating social processes and relationships, norms embody the “principles” that can be applied beyond a particular social system. The authors underline that it is important for Ukrainian sociology to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of axiology and make good use of those ideas because this is a prerequisite for its successful integration into the global sociological community.

scholarly journals Power, Agency, Relationality and Welfare Practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHAEL DOBSON
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article argues that constructions of social phenomena in social policy and welfare scholarship think about the subjects and objects of welfare practice in essentialising ways, with negativistic effects for practitioners working in ‘regulatory’ contexts such as housing and homelessness practice. It builds into debates about power, agency, social policy and welfare by bringing psychosocial and feminist theorisations of relationality to practice research. It claims that relational approaches provide a starting point for the analysis of empirical practice data, by working through the relationship between the individual and the social via an ontological unpicking and revisioning of practitioners' social worlds.

What Makes a Hero? Theorising the Social Structuring of Heroism

Sociology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Frisk
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Social Structuring ◽  
The Relationship

The article discusses four dominant perspectives in the sociology of heroism: the study of great men; hero stories; heroic actions; and hero institutions. The discussion ties together heroism and fundamental sociological debates about the relationship between the individual and the social order; it elucidates the socio-psychological, cultural/ideational and socio-political structuring of heroism, which challenges the tendency to understand people, actions and events as naturally, or intrinsically, heroic; and it points to a theoretical trajectory within the literature, which has moved from very exclusive to more inclusive conceptualisations of a hero. After this discussion, the article examines three problematic areas in the sociology of heroism: the underlying masculine character of heroism; the presumed disappearance of the hero with modernisation; and the principal idea of heroism as a pro-social phenomenon. The article calls for a more self-conscious engagement with this legacy, which could stimulate dialogue across different areas of sociological research.

Social identity, rationality, creativity

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Maria Kanzola ◽  
Konstantina Papaioannou ◽  
Panagiotis E. Petrakis
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Life Improvement ◽  
Components Analysis ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis study examines the relationship between rationality and creativity by means of social identity theory for the Greek society (2019–2020).Design/methodology/approachThe outline of the social identity was given through self-categorization via a distributed questionnaire. The types of behavior (rational, nonrational and loss-averse) were determined by using questions based on the Allais paradox. Principal components analysis (PCA) is used to extract the causal relationships.FindingsThe study findings demonstrate that rational individuals are more prompt to creative personality than nonrational individuals. Rational individuals are motivated to pursue creativity through life-improvement goals. Loss-averse individuals are driven through the contradictive incentive of adventure-seeking behavior without, however, being willing to easily give up their established assets.Originality/valueThis article contributes by explaining creativity among rational, nonrational and loss-averse individuals as a product of social identity theory. This contributes to the literature, by proposing that the application of social theories in economics could constitute a different foundation for economics. This refers to the notion of the social microfoundations of the political economy and macroeconomics.

Developing algorithms to optimize the Russian regions' social overheads advancement

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-299
Author(s):  
Valerii P. CHICHKANOV ◽  
Aleksandra V. VASIL'EVA
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Russian Regions ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Subject. This article analyzes the effectiveness of public administration in the social sphere. Objectives. The article aims to standardize the decision-making process for managing the region's social development through statistical analysis techniques. Methods. For the study, we used correlation and cluster analyses. Results. The article highlights weaknesses in the development of the social sphere and assesses the relationship between the individual areas of its development, and the effectiveness of its financing. It offers algorithms that take into account the patterns of social development and the specifics of certain types of economic activity. Conclusions. The results obtained were used to develop algorithms to optimize the development of the social sphere at the regional level. The socio-economic differentiation of the Russian Federation subjects in a number of regions requires an analysis of the specifics of the development of the social sphere of the region under consideration and adjustments to the proposed algorithms.

Under-promising and over-delivering: pleasing the customer or strategic blunder?

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 720-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omer Topaloglu ◽  
David E. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Practical Implication ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Expectation Management ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Service Expectation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Promise Keeping

Purpose The paper aims to provide a theoretical and empirical examination of the relationship between service expectation management, expectation inducing agent and customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Based on the disconfirmation paradigm in services and the promise-keeping premise in psychology, the hypotheses are developed and empirically tested using three experiments that manipulated expectations, expectation inducing agent and service outcome. Findings The findings provide reconciliation to the previous studies in services and show that effectiveness of expectation management strategy depends on the individual expectation thresholds and the expectation inducing agent. If customers patronize a firm expecting more, then over-delivering on the service promise results in a significant benefit. However, for those customers whose mental expectation threshold is exceeded, keeping promises is as effective as exceeding promises. Practical implications The practical implication of this paper is that services managers should be cognizant of the mental expectation threshold of customers and be wise in utilizing the under-promise, over-deliver strategy. Originality/value Using a threshold approach, this paper introduces a new perspective to service practitioners who are trying to manage expectations in a highly variable business environment. It also benefits service researchers who are trying to enhance the understanding of service expectation management.

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