Does social class matter in recovering self-service technology failures?

Purpose This paper aims to examine the interaction effect among the subjective social class, service level and recovery type on post-failure service evaluations (recovery satisfaction and willingness to spread positive word-of-mouth). Design/methodology/approach A total of 270 US consumers were recruited via Amazon MTurk. This study adopted a 2 (Subjective social class: high vs low) × 2 (Service level: luxury vs mid-scale) × 2 (Recovery type: customer self-recovery vs joint recovery) between subjects’ factorial design using a scenario-based survey method. Findings The results from the three-way multivariate analysis of covariance confirmed that a joint recovery is ineffective for high subjective social class individuals in a mid-scale hotel setting. Moreover, the moderated mediation analysis revealed that this tendency can be explained by high subjective social class individuals’ tendency to attribute blame externally to self-service technologies (SSTs). Practical implications The results of this study suggest that mid-scale hotels should deploy employees in the SST service area based on the profile of their main customers. If a mid-scale hotel is positioning itself to appeal to high subjective social class customers, then employees should be aware of the fact that customers may not be highly satisfied if they receive assistance. Originality/value This study expands the current knowledge on customers’ psychological differences based on subjective social class. Furthermore, the findings of this study contribute to academia by providing evidence of external attribution among high subjective social class individuals.

Seeing Class in Ladders: An Integrated Approach to Subjective Status and Health Inequality

Subjective social status, or one’s perceived rank within society, predicts individual health, often matching objective socioeconomic status (SES) indicators such as education or income in this capacity. While rank- or ladder-based measurement of subjective status is typical, subjective social class identification (e.g., seeing oneself as “working class” or “middle class”) remains a relatively neglected approach. Drawing on two recent national datasets and several measures of subjective status, I find that subjective class identification partly explains links between objective SES and subjective ladder scores. Adjusted distributions of ladder scores differ strikingly by subjective social class, with peaks and troughs highly dependent on class identity and ladder question wording. Crucially, subjective class and ladder systems both contribute to predicting self-rated health, net of each other and at similar, substantial levels. In sum, Americans significantly associate ladders with class. Thus, a sole emphasis on ladder-based approaches misses the categorical and cultural construction of subjective status, limiting our insight into health inequality.

Community Environment Perception on Depression: The Mediating Role of Subjective Social Class

Depression has become a major social issue of global concern, which has seriously threatened the quality of an individual’s life. Although the relationship between community environment and depression has aroused heated debate, the empirical research on the relationship between community environment perception and public depression is still relatively insufficient. Data for this study are from China Family Panel Studies in 2016, which were conducted by the institute of Social Science Survey, Peking University. This paper has tested group differences in the influence of community environment on public depression, as well as the mediating role of subjective social class between community environment perception and depression, so as to further explore the social psychological effect of community environment. The empirical study found that there are group differences in the impacts of community environment perception on depression. Specifically, men, rural residents, and people aged 60 and under are more likely to be depressed which were affected by the perception of community environment. Furthermore, we have found that the subjective social class can partly mediate community environment perception and depression. That is to say, the perception of community environment can induce depression by influencing the individual’s subjective social class. Among them, community living environment and community public facilities have the greatest impact, community emotional attachment and community security situation have the second impact, and neighborhood mutual aid and neighborhood relationship have the least impact. In other words, the community environment is deeply endowed with a social psychological effect. To ameliorate the public’s depression, it is necessary to consider the construction of community physical environment and the cultivation of harmonious community culture as powerful measures not to be ignored. In short, the important role of community environmental intervention in alleviating the public’s depression caused by social class cognition deserves attention.

La política evaluativa de formación profesional en España

Presentamos un estudio de producción educativa de carácter exploratorio en el contexto del sistema de formación profesional de grado superior español. Entendemos como outputs educativos las finalidades propias de la formación profesional consistente en responder a las demandas del mercado laboral y lograr una adecuada inserción sociolaboral de sus egresados. El objetivo es doble. Por un lado, analizamos la influencia de determinados inputs «no escolares» como la «personalidad eficaz» y la «clase social subjetiva». Por otro, comprobamos el grado de congruencia existente entre los distintos modelos evaluativos utilizados en los dos ámbitos en que se desarrollan actualmente estas enseñanzas: el educativo y el laboral. Para ello, utilizamos una muestra no probabilística por conveniencia de 374 estudiantes pertenecientes al segundo curso de distintos ciclos formativos de grado superior situados en centros educativos de la provincia de Barcelona (España). Se les administró un cuestionario informatizado donde se recogían las principales variables explicativas tomadas en consideración. El análisis se basó en un modelo econométrico logit ordenado. Los resultados obtenidos señalan como la «expectativa de éxito», en tanto dimensión del constructo «personalidad eficaz», y la «clase social subjetiva» determinan positivamente los resultados. En segundo lugar, podemos afirmar que no existe relación alguna entre los resultados medidos por las evaluaciones realizadas desde el ámbito educativo y laboral. De este modo, a falta de una mayor reflexión y evidencia científica, es posible que haya que replantear la política evaluativa del sistema de formación profesional dando un paso más hacia su necesaria integración. We present an exploratory education production study in the context of the Spanish higher vocational training system. We consider the educational outputs to be the very purposes of professional training, i.e., responding to the demands of the labour market and achieving adequate social and labour integration for graduates. This article pursues two aims. On the one hand, we analyse the influence of certain "non-school" inputs such as "effective personality" and "subjective social class". On the other hand, we check the degree of congruence among the different assessment models used in the two areas in which these teachings are currently developed: education and labour. To this end, we use a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 374 second-year students from different higher degree training cycles located in educational centres in the province of Barcelona, Spain. The students were administered a computerised questionnaire which included the main explanatory variables taken into consideration. The analysis was based on an ordered econometric logit model. The results obtained indicate that the "expectation of success", as a dimension of the "effective personality" construct, and the "subjective social class" determine the results positively. Furthermore, we can state that there is no relationship among the results measured by the assessments carried out in the areas of education and labour. Thus, in the absence of greater reflection and scientific evidence, the assessment policy of the vocational training system may have to be reconsidered, taking a further step towards a needed integration.

Effects of Environmental Quality Perception on Depression: Subjective Social Class as a Mediator

Although the relationship between environment and public depression has aroused heated debate, the empirical research on the relationship between environmental quality perception and public depression is still relatively insufficient. This paper aims to explore the influence of environmental quality perception on public depression and the mediating role of subjective social class between environmental quality perception and public depression. Using the China Family Panel Studies data of 2016 for empirical analysis, this study’s results show that environmental quality perception has a significant effect on public depression and subjective social class also has a significant effect on public depression. In addition, we found that subjective social class can play a partial mediating role between environmental quality perception and public depression, and the intermediary effect only comes from the contribution of the perception of living environmental quality, not the perception of overall environmental quality. That is to say, the perception of living environment quality deeply affects the subjective social class, and then induces public depression. In order to alleviate the relationship between environmental quality and public depression, it is recommended that the state environmental protection department and civil affairs department strengthen the improvement of public living environment so as to promote individual subjective social class and reduce the risk of public depression. Moreover, it is suggested that research with longitudinal design and comprehensive indicators be undertaken in the future.

Subjective Social Class and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Class Consistency and Identity Uncertainty

Drawing on a recent perspective that inconsistent class identities can negatively impact psychological outcomes, the current research explored if the relative benefit of higher subjective social class for life satisfaction would differ depending on whether it is consistent with one’s objective social class. In Study 1, across two independent samples from Singapore (N = 1045) and the US (N = 492), higher subjective social class predicted higher life satisfaction more strongly among those high in objective social class, but less strongly among those low in objective social class. In Study 2, these patterns were replicated in another large US sample (N = 1030), and appeared to be driven by lower status-based identity uncertainty (SBIU) linked to higher subjective social class perceptions among high objective social class participants. The role of class-identity perceptions in explaining social class disparities in subjective well-being is discussed.

Beyond Justice Perceptions: The Role of Interpersonal Justice Trajectories and Social Class in Perceived Legitimacy of Authority Figures

There is considerable evidence that the experience of justice is associated with perceived legitimacy of authority, but there has been no research about this association when considering past rather than current fairness. Based on the fairness heuristic theory, we tested the hypothesis that interpersonal justice trajectories positively affect perceived legitimacy of the authority; we also tested whether social class moderated this effect. Community residents (N = 111; 54 women) rated the authority's fairness on 16 consecutive weeks and rated perceived legitimacy on the 16th week. The results of latent growth modeling showed that the trajectory of interpersonal justice scores leading up to the final week significantly predicted perceived legitimacy, regardless of the current experience of interpersonal fairness. Tests of moderation showed that the legitimacy perceptions of individuals of lower subjective social class were significantly affected by interpersonal justice trajectories, whereas this was not the case among individuals of higher subjective social class. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for research on perceived legitimacy and justice, as well as their implications for understanding social class.