Steps towards transformative consumer research practice: a taxonomy of possible reflexivities

NoThe aim of ACR 2005 has been articulated by the organisers as the promotion and dissemination of consumer research `for¿ consumers. This call asks for transformative consumer research raising the issue that `Historically, the organization¿s research has been impelled by the theoretical and substantive interests of academics¿. It is on this point that this paper acts to transform arguing that a transformative ethic should be enacted though consumer research praxis. To achieve this it presents worked examples of the practice of reflexivity in consumer research developing a taxonomy of `possible reflexivities¿, and discusses their possibilities for transformation of the consumer research process

Impact of Scottish vocational qualifications on residential child care : have they fulfilled the promise?

This article will present findings from a doctoral study exploring the impact of 'SVQ Care: Promoting Independence (level III)' within children's homes. The study focuses on the extent to which SVQs enhance practice and their function within a 'learning society'. A total of 30 staff were selected from seven children's homes in two different local authority social work departments in Scotland. Each member of staff was interviewed on four separate occasions over a period of 9 months. Interviews were structured using a combination of repertory grids and questions. Particular focus was given to the assessment process, the extent to which SVQs enhance practice and the learning experiences of staff. The findings suggest that there are considerable deficiencies both in terms of the SVQ format and the way in which children's homes are structured for the assessment of competence. Rather than address the history of failure within residential care, it appears that SVQs have enabled the status quo to be maintained whilst creating an 'illusion' of change within a learning society

Emotions in business-to-business service relationships

Emotion in business-to-business service relationships regarding cargo services is explored. The service relationship is characterised by mutual trust and cooperation. Contact is mainly via telephone or e-mail with some face-to-face interactions and participants providing a complex, multi-skilled seamless service. Experience rather than training plays a vital role with long-term service relationships built up and maintained. Emotional sensitivity is acquired partly by experience and a repeat customer base but mainly through a genuine desire to help and get to know others. In contrast to the view of emotional labour bringing managerial control or adverse affects to service staff, the emotion engendered by this work is authentic expression bringing personal satisfaction

A quadripartite approach to analysing young British South Asian adults’ dual cultural identity

Adopting an acculturation perspective, this article explicates the duality of young British South Asian adults’ cultural dispositions. In so doing, it examines the complex dialectic processes that influence their acculturation strategies. By using a maximum variation sampling method, respondents from six major cities in Great Britain were interviewed for this study. The findings show that young British South Asian adults exhibit attributes of both of their ancestral and host cultures. Their dual cultural identity is constituted due to four major reasons: consonances with ancestral culture, situational constraints, contextual requirements, and conveniences. This quadripartite perspective informs a non-context specific theoretical model of acculturation. Marketing managers seeking to serve this diaspora market (and others) can utilise this theoretical framework in order to more-fully comprehend diaspora members’ religiosity, social, communal and familial bonding and other cultural dispositions and, moreover, their manifestations in their day-to-day lives

Bringing emotion to work: Emotional intelligence, resistance, and the reinvention of character

This article centrally examines the sociological significance of emotional intelligence (EI) as a nascent managerial discourse. Through developing a three-way reading of the writers Richard Sennett, Daniel Goleman, and George Ritzer, it is contended that EI can be understood to signal ‘new rules’ for work involving demands for workers to develop moral character better attuned to the dynamics of the flexible workplace - character that is more ‘intelligent’, adaptive, and reflexive. Furthermore, it is argued that while EI appears in some important respects to open the scope for worker discretion, it might also signal diminished scope for worker resistance. However, ultimately, the case of EI is used to problematise recent discussions of worker resistance - to suggest the possibility of ‘resistant’ worker agency exercised through collusion with, as well as transgression of, corporate norms and practices

The species-area relationship: new challenges for an old pattern

The species-area relationship (i.e., the relationship between area and the number of species found in that area) is one of longest and most frequently studied patterns in nature. Yet there remain some important and interesting questions on the nature of this relationship, its causality, quantification and application for both ecologists and conservation biologists.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Steps towards transformative consumer research practice: a taxonomy of possible reflexivities

The aim of ACR 2005 has been articulated by the organisers as the promotion and dissemination of consumer research ‘for’ consumers. This call asks for transformative consumer research raising the issue that ‘Historically, the organization’s research has been impelled by the theoretical and substantive interests of academics’. It is on this point that this paper acts to transform arguing that a transformative ethic should be enacted though consumer research praxis. To achieve this it presents worked examples of the practice of reflexivity in consumer research developing a taxonomy of ‘possible reflexivities’, and discusses their possibilities for transformation of the consumer research proces

Working the limits of method: the possibilities of critical reflexive practice in marketing and consumer research

Developed primarily through feminist critiques of the production of knowledge, researcher reflexivity has been identified in consumer research (Wallendorf and Brucks 1993; Hirschman 1993; Thompson 2002) and in the wider social sciences (e.g. Wasserfall 1993; Mauthner and Doucet 2003) as a way to address power and control in the research encounter, to attend to the researcher/researched dynamic and to give insightful commentaries into the research process itself. Following the call for consumer and marketing researchers to "exhibit a degree of reflexivity" in order to "recognise the role of the researcher in the production of knowledge" (Tadajewski and Brownlie 2008, p. 10), this paper develops a structured approach to the possibilities of critical reflexive practice in marketing and consumer research

Doing feminist research in a masculine paradigm

This paper aims to do three things; firstly the authors will present a case for their argument that marketing can be viewed as a masculine paradigm, secondly a critical perspective of traditional research methodologies within marketing and consumer research will be developed and, finally, the authors will share their own experiences of adopting alternative approaches and engaging in research reflexivity