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The purpose of this paper is to examine Generation Y, potential graduate entrants to UK retailing, in respect of their job experiences, career perceptions and initial employment expectations.

Utilising qualitative research methods, an exploratory study was undertaken with 33 students (all of whom fell into the category of Generation Y) from two UK universities.

The study found that many of the propositions contained within the Generation Y literature were reflected among participants in relation to their future career and lifestyle aspirations. This points to the need for retailers to carefully manage graduate expectations and experiences to ensure commitment to the sector.

Being an exploratory study, the results are not genralisable to the wider population. The findings frame a future longitudinal study on the retail careers of Generation Y graduates as they move from the anticipation to the encounter stage of their career development. This will seek to further explore the implications of Generation Y values, including those relating to diversity and equality which were not raised as an issue in this preliminary study.

The findings of this research contribute to our knowledge of the career aspirations of Generation Y. It indicates to retailers some of the future recruitment and HR practices they might adopt to meet the needs of this generation of employees.

The aim of this paper is to highlight some preliminary findings regarding students' perceptions of retail employment. It concentrates on those students who belong to Generation Y, those born between 1977 and 1994.

The research instrument consisted of a questionnaire survey administered to business studies students at two Scottish universities – Glasgow Caledonian University and Stirling University. This paper reports on responses to 340 of these questionnaires – those students who already have some experience of retail employment, mainly as their part‐time employment experiences while studying for their degree.

Retail employment experience is common with the majority of students. Their expectations for future retail employment after graduation is to enjoy their work, while they are also concerned with fairness, equality and tolerance from their future employment.

The results are of benefit to retail employers' as preliminary indications of how they can attract potential graduate entrants into the sector. They provide some areas that retail companies should be addressing in their recruitment literature. These factors include future career opportunities including opportunities for self development, training and development, as well as pay and job security. Other factors that are also important to highlight are responsibility and challenging work opportunities and the maintenance of a good work‐life balance.

This is an under‐researched topic in the area of retail employment and Generation Y.

The purpose of this paper is to question our faith in numbers. It asks how much credibility can numbers and quantification of data offer us as researchers?

The research asked the question “Does gender matter?” in the case of banks lending to male and female business owners. To test this the bank loan officers were given an identical fictional bank loan proposal from either Jack or Emma Jones. It was assumed that the more positive statements made, the more likely there would be a positive decision to lend to either Jack or Emma.

The main finding was that no link was found between the number of positive statements made and the final decision on whether or not to lend to either gender. While counting, we assume, injects precision into analysis, in this case it provided no support for the existence of a relationship between the numbers of positive statements and final decision on whether or not to lend. Some reasons are presented.

The paper features a small sample of 35 interviews. It would be interesting to see if this same finding is replicated in other studies of bank loan decision making using bank loan proposals and investigating the effect of gender on decisions.

This research builds upon the 1993 research of Fay and Williams.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the gender composition of retail management and various issues in the careers of women managers during the last 25 years, a time period that has been transformational in many ways for UK retailing.

The paper is based on empirical research from the last 25 years.

Findings indicate that progress of women in retail management positions has been slow and they are still under‐represented at senior levels of UK companies. Barriers to women's ascension to senior management positions persist, and can be broadly related to the traditional division of labour, and organisational cultural norms and values which uphold deep‐rooted stereotypes and promote intransigent modes of working.

The gendered assumption of the male model and male leader as the ideal retail manager needs to be challenged further, and embedded cultural norms and outdated attitudes towards women in retail organisations require to be further challenged. Informal and implicit organisational practices and patterns of behaviour need to change so as to be inclusive of all workers not just men.

The paper highlights issues that continue to be problematic for women in the retail management hierarchy.

Examines the sources of stress associated with male and female retail managers, a sector recognised as being stressful and where women are more likely than in other occupational sectors to be managers. Self‐completed questionnaires were distributed to males and females at various levels of retail management. The findings confirmed the two research hypotheses: male and female managers reported similar job pressures, in particular from “work overload”, “time pressures and deadlines”, “staff shortages and turnover rates” and “long working hours”. Moreover, female retail managers were more likely than their male counterparts to suffer from additional pressures caused by sex discrimination and prejudice. The outcome of these stressors can contribute to organisational deficiency, ultimately damaging the reputation of the company. Retail companies that successfully tackle the issue of work‐related stress will be better equipped to cope with the price of change within the retail environment.

Causes and effects of occupational stress have received research attention for several decades although increasing focus has been paid to it during the 1990s as organisations and individual workers attempt to adapt to accelerating rates of change. Previous research has proposed three hypotheses to explain the work‐family relationship: spillover, compensation and independence. Drawing on qualitative research with retail managers from a variety of UK major retailers, this article attempts to uncover the relationship between work demands and home life. The results of the research found that family boundaries are more permeable than work boundaries. Although spillover behaviour was evident, there was no evidence to suggest that the retail managers adopt compensatory or independent models of behaviour. To alleviate some of the pressures experienced by the retail managers, calls for a reassessment of working practices. The introduction of more flexible working arrangements, providing quality time off from work, and a realistic assessment of the retail manager’s job are some of the recommendations provided.