Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Corporate Social Responsibility Website Representations: A Longitudinal Study Of Internal And External Self-Presentations, Debra Z. Basil, Jill Erlandson

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This research undertakes a longitudinal study to assess the representation of CSR activities on Canadian companies' websites. A systematic sample of the websites of 159 companies from Canada's top 1000 was assessed in 2003 and 2006. Results reveal that only 27% expressed some form of CSR activity in 2003, compared to 67% in 2006. Based on a frame from Weaver, Trevino, and Cochran (1999a), CSR activities are categorized as external or internal. A strong increase in internal CSR activities is evident. Companies that are more successful indicate more CSR activity on their websites; this effect is driven primarily by internal …

Corporate Social Responsibility, Condition Branding And Ethics In Marketing, Danika Hall, Sandra C. Jones

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Over the past two decades there has been increased interest in corporate responsibility (CSR) and its relation to marketing practice and theory )Maignan and Ferrell, 2004: Polonsky and Jevons, 2006). This paper explores another marketing phenomena emerging from the pharmaceutical industry: condition branding (Angelmar, Angelmar and Kane, 2007: Parry, 2003). Condition branding has been positioned as a form of CSR for the industry, in that it provides education to the general public regarding diseases or conditions. However, the ethical nature of condition branding has been questioned as it is also seen as a deliberate method of increasing markets for pharmaceutical …

Communication About Organ Donation Intentions: Formative Research For A Social Marketing Program Targeting Families, Sandra C. Jones, Samantha L. Reis, Kelly L. Andrews

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

With the introduction of the Australian Organ Donation Register (AODR), responsibility regarding organ donation decisions primarily rests with the individual. However, family members can be instrumental in facilitating or hindering the rate of organ donation by objecting to or confirming the individuals wishes. Attitudes and beliefs of family members have been shown to be a strong influence on peoples intentions to donate. Numerous studies have also demonstrated that family communication about organ donation can improve the rate of organ donation. We surveyed 23 matched pairs of undergraduate university students and their parents and found that attitudes to organ donation were …

Social Ideological Influences On Reported Food Consumption And Bmi, Wei C. Wang, Anthony Worsley, Everada G. Cunningham

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between ideological beliefs, perceptions of the importance of health behaviours, health attitudes, food consumption, and Body Mass Index (BMI). A behavioural model was hypothesized based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975).

Methods

A survey was conducted among shoppers aged between 40 and 70 years at Eastland Shopping Centre, Melbourne, Australia. The hypothesized model was tested with this empirical data (n = 410) for younger (n = 151) and older (n = 259) age groups using structural equation modelling.

Results

The findings generally support …

Social Capital Renewal And The Academic Performance Of International Students In Australia, Frank V. Neri, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Many believe that social capital fosters the accumulation of human capital. Yet international university students arrive in their host country generally denuded of social capital and confronted by unfamiliar cultural and educational institutions. This study investigates how, and to what extent, international students renew their social networks, and whether such investments are positively associated with academic performance. We adopt a social capital framework and conduct a survey of international students at a typical Australian university in order to categorise and measure investments in social capital renewal, and test a multivariate model of academic performance that includes social capital variables, amongst …

Industry Associations As Facilitators Of Social Capital: The Establishment And Early Operations Of The Melbourne Woolbrokers Association, David Merrett, Stephen Morgan, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Relocation of the selling of Australia's wool clip from London to cities in Australia in the late nineteenth century led to the creation of wool selling industry associations, such as the Melbourne Woolbrokers Association (MWA). Highly successful in fostering competitive collaboration that improved market efficiency, the Association rested on the social capital brought to it and further developed by the participants, individuals with extensive connections in the pastoral, banking and transport industries. The collective social capital vested in the Association enabled the earning of economic rents, firstly from the high trust created through internal cohesion reinforced by formalised sanctions, and …

Implications Of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Practices In The Australasian Region, Gary Noble, Alan Pomering

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Companys reporting of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities is being increasingly valued and demanded by key stakeholder groups such as consumers as it allows them to evaluate a firms commitment to CSR and to respond to that level of commitment accordingly. This paper examines the CSR web-based reporting practices of Australias top fifty corporations. It reflects on these practices in the context of the literatures call for CSR to be viewed as a holistic approach to management rather than a short-term promotional tool.

Enhancing Occupational Health And Safety In Young Workers: The Role Of Social Marketing, Anne M. Lavack, Sherry Magnuson, Sameer Deshpande, Debra Z. Basil, Michael D. Basil, James H. Mintz

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

• Young workers (age 15-24) suffer work-related injury at a much higher rate than older workers, yet research on the role and effectiveness of social marketing to influence and improve workplace safety is limited.
• A review of the relevant literature reveals that significant gaps exist in terms of effectively using social marketing to reduce young worker injury rates.
• A comprehensive, multi-faceted social marketing approach is required to address young worker safety.
• Directing more attention toward the practice of social marketing can enhance the effectiveness of campaigns to reduce workplace injurie.

You Have To Make Something Of All That Rubbish, Do You? An Empirical Investigation Of The Social Process Of Qualitative Research, Stacy M. Carter, Christopher F. Jordens, Catherine Mcgrath, Miles Little

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this article, we examine participants' talk about qualitative research. We provide empirical support for post-structural theorizations of the interview and propose three distinct but related dimensions of qualitative research: emotional, purposive/relational, and epistemic/ontological. In this study, participants often became upset but constructed participation as enjoyable and cathartic. The purpose of participation was to assist the communities to which one belonged. Participation was an active, reflexive practice that reconstructed the self and changed knowledge about one's self. This latter epistemic/ontological dimension of participation appeared to be the most compelling for participants, but it is also the hardest to observe, with …

Influences On Children's Attainment And Progress In Key Stage 2: Social/Behavioural Outcomes In Year 6, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Helena Jelicic

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This report describes the results of analyses on children's social/behavioural outcomes at the end of Key Stage 2 (11 years old) and investigates social/behavioural development across Key Stage 2 (from Year 2 to Year 6).

Influences On Children's Cognitive And Social Development In Year 6, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Stephen Hunt, Helena Jelicic

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Effective Pre-School and Primary Education 3-11 project (EPPE 3-11) investigates the impact of background factors, pre-school and school experiences on a national sample of young children in England between the ages of 3 and 11 years. This Research Brief focuses on the relationships between various child, family, home, pre-school and primary school characteristics and children's subsequent cognitive (English and Mathematics) and social/behavioural outcomes ('Self-regulation', 'Pro-social' behaviour, 'Hyperactivity' and 'Anti-social' behaviour) at age 11 in Year 6 of primary school. It also investigates children's academic and developmental progress across Key Stage 2 (between Year 2 and Year 6). The brief …

Contentious Issues In Human-Wildlife Encounters: Seeking Solutions Ina Changing Social Context, Daniel Lunney, Adam J. Munn, Will Meikle

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

The Big Fish Strikes Again But In A Different Place: Social Comparison Theory And Children With Special Needs, Roselyn May Dixon, Marjorie Seaton, Robert John Dixon

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper will address the implications of Big-Fish Little Pond Effect (BFLPE) and social comparison theory and school placement of students with special needs. It made use of the PISA data base to determine if type of educational placement had an impact on the academic self-concept with children with special needs. Multiple regression techniques were used to delineate the relationships.

Fitting Position Latent Cluster Models For Social Networks With Latentnet, Pavel N. Krivitsky, M Handcock

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

latentnet is a package to fit and evaluate statistical latent position and cluster models for networks. Hoff, Raftery, and Handcock (2002) suggested an approach to modeling networks based on positing the existence of an latent space of characteristics of the actors. Relationships form as a function of distances between these characteristics as well as functions of observed dyadic level covariates. In latentnet social distances are represented in a Euclidean space. It also includes a variant of the extension of the latent position model to allow for clustering of the positions developed in Handcock, Raftery, and Tantrum (2007). The package implements …

I Can't Believe It's Not Measurement: The Legacy Of Operationism In Social-Scientific Uses Of Numbers, George Matheson

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

What is called measurement in human sciences such as sociology is different from other uses of the term, embracing not only quantification in the strict sense, but also all kinds of scaling, ranking and even classification per se. This paper considers such habits as a legacy of the ‘Operational’ measurement theory of S. S. Stevens, wherein science meant measurement, but concepts (e.g., measurement) meant whatever we all agreed they did. Coupled with a broader cultural tendency to privilege mind over matter, this has led to great efforts to quantify the intangible, possibly at the expense of sociologically-relevant material factors which …