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Consumers buy what they perceive, and what they perceive is heavily influenced by the cues — brand name, packaging, color — that marketers send to them. This article reports on an empirical study that demonstrates the influence of color in cueing consumers to the taste of pudding. Vanilla pudding, colored to look like chocolate pudding, was perceived by consumers as tasting like chocolate pudding. The results indicate that color is a more influential cue than taste in the consumers' perception of the flavor of the pudding.

The crop insurance purchase decision for a group of Kansas farmers is analyzed using farm‐level data from the 1990s, a period that experienced many changes in the federal crop insurance program. Results indicate a reduction in the elasticity of the demand for crop insurance with respect to premium rates by the end of the decade. The reduction in demand elasticity corresponded with a considerable increase in government subsidies by the end of the 1990s. This result may also reflect the attractiveness of new revenue insurance products which may have made producers less sensitive to premium changes.

Work–family research has mainly focused on nuclear families, neglecting other types of families, such as single self-employed parents. To what extent does the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed hinder or enhance single parents' work–family balance? Using role theory as a theoretical lens, this study examines single-self-employed parents' work–family balance.

Drawing on the accounts of 25 single self-employed parents in Nigeria, the article uses semi-structured interviews to examine how this group achieves work–family balance.

We found that the freedom and flexibility associated with being single and self-employed form a double-edged sword that increases the spate of singlehood and intensifies commitments to work, altogether preventing the participants in the study from achieving work–family balance. The findings also indicate that singlehood and a lack of spousal support cause and exacerbate work–family imbalance for this group. The findings further indicate that the reconstruction of functions, and the recreation of the traditional masculine gender role overwhelm single self-employed women in their entrepreneurial activities, thereby causing a lack of time and the energy required to function well in a family role, thus creating imbalance between the different spheres of life.

The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample and scope of the research.

While literature espouses freedom and flexibility as important ingredients needed to achieve work–family balance, this study shows that they enhance inter-role role conflict. The study suggests creation of private or family time, devoid of work or entrepreneurial engagements, for single female entrepreneurs. This will ensure quality time and energy for the family and for fresh relationship – all of which will impact business positively.

Rather than enhancing work–family balance, the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed remain the main source of work–family imbalance for Nigerian single self-employed parents.

This study aims to examine the phenomenon of self-perceived age (SPA) identity for Generation X (GenX) women in the UK. Squeezed between the more ubiquitous “boomer” and “millennial” cohorts, and now with both gender and age stigma-related challenges, this study looks to provide insights for understanding this group for marketing.

This study adopts an existential phenomenological approach using a hybrid structured/hermeneutic research design. Data is collected using solicited diary research (SDR) that elicits autoethnographic insights into the lived experiences of GenX women, these in the context of SPA.

For this group, the authors find age a gendered phenomenon represented via seven “age frames”, collectively an “organisation of experience”. Age identity appears not to have unified meaning but is contingent upon individuals and their experiences. These frames then provide further insights into how diarists react to the stigma of gendered ageism.

SDR appeals to participants who like completing diaries and are motivated by the research topic. This limits both diversity of response and sample size, but coincidentally enhances elicitation potential – outweighing, the authors believe, these constraints. The sample comprises UK women only.

This study acknowledges GenX women as socially real, but from an SPA perspective they are heterogeneous, and consequently distributed across many segments. Here, age is a psychographic, not demographic, variable – a subjective rather than chronological condition requiring a nuanced response from marketers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first formal study into how SPA identity is manifested for GenX women. Methodologically, this study uses e-journals/diaries, an approach not yet fully exploited in marketing research.

The higher education system must move closer to society and its requirements, and therefore, the process of transformation in the university context brings new challenges. The purpose of this paper is to present research on a case study that examines the perception of the middle managers’ role from their own perspective: how they describe it, the associated tasks, the skills perceived as necessary and what they think about the need to become academic leaders.

The authors have adopted a mixed-method approach. Data were collected through an in-depth interview and an adapted version of the Personal Construct Grid (Kelly, 1955). Two types of analyses have been carried out: statistical analysis and content analysis following a category system. The participants were academics performing a management position selected in accordance with certain criteria relevant for the study.

The research shows how their perception collides with the traditional characteristics of the university, which focus on the managerial and bureaucratic tasks of the middle managers. The study also reveals evidence of the poor visibility of these managers with no place for action due to their lack of power and decision-making opportunities.

The participants claim that it is necessary for people who hold the position to become agents of change by creating a shared identity through teamwork and collaboration. To this end, this paper presents a proposal for the development of a framework for action.

Radical changes in consumer habits induced by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic suggest that the usual demand forecasting techniques based on historical series are questionable. This is particularly true for hospitality demand, which has been dramatically affected by the pandemic. Accordingly, we investigate the suitability of tourists’ activity on Twitter as a predictor of hospitality demand in the Way of Saint James – an important pilgrimage tourism destination.

This study compares the predictive performance of the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) time-series model with that of the SARIMA with an exogenous variables (SARIMAX) model to forecast hotel tourism demand. For this, 110,456 tweets posted on Twitter between January 2018 and September 2022 are used as exogenous variables.

The results confirm that the predictions of traditional time-series models for tourist demand can be significantly improved by including tourist activity on Twitter. Twitter data could be an effective tool for improving the forecasting accuracy of tourism demand in real-time, which has relevant implications for tourism management. This study also provides a better understanding of tourists’ digital footprints in pilgrimage tourism.

This study contributes to the scarce literature on the digitalisation of pilgrimage tourism and forecasting hotel demand using a new methodological framework based on Twitter user-generated content. This can enable hospitality industry practitioners to convert social media data into relevant information for hospitality management.

2019冠狀病毒病引致消費者習慣有根本的改變; 這些改變顯示，根據歷史序列而運作的慣常需求預測技巧未必是正確的。這不確性尤以受到大流行極大影響的酒店服務需求為甚。因此，我們擬探討、若把在推特網站上的旅遊活動視為聖雅各之路 (一個重要的朝聖旅遊聖地) 酒店服務需求的預測器，這會否是合適的呢?

本研究比較 SARIMA 時間序列模型與附有外生變數 (SARIMAX)模型兩者在預測旅遊及酒店服務需求方面的表現。為此，研究人員收集在推特網站上發佈的資訊，作為外生變數進行研究。這個樣本涵蓋於2018年1月至2022年9月期間110,456個發佈資訊。

研究結果確認了傳統的時間序列模型，若涵蓋推特網站上的旅遊活動，則其對旅遊需求方面的預測會得到顯著的改善。推特網站的數據，就改善預測實時旅遊需求的準確度，或許可成為有效的工具; 而這發現對旅遊管理會有一定的意義。本研究亦讓我們進一步瞭解朝聖旅遊方面旅客的數碼足跡。

現存文獻甚少探討朝聖旅遊的數字化，而本研究不但在這方面充實了有關的文獻，還使用了一個根據推特網站上使用者原創內容嶄新的方法框架，進行分析和探討。這會幫助酒店從業人員把社交媒體數據轉變為可供酒店管理之用的合宜資訊。

Latin American investors are commonly suspicious of investing in copreneurial ventures (a male and female couple, integrated as a working team) and show even higher levels of uncertainty when the start-ups are led by a female founder. The purpose of this paper is to address issues related to women as leaders in copreneurial tech ventures and analyses whether these ventures are growth-oriented or conform to limited partnerships aimed primarily to meet their living standards.

A qualitative, inductive and constructive approach was required for addressing the research question. Three copreneurial women and two divorced copreneurs were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze data and emerging themes.

Copreneurial teams that work in the technology industry have similar and complementary levels of education and skills development. After three years working together, each partner becomes well aware of mutual skills and strengths. This allows them to define their respective roles. Both divide work and family, and have developed a level of mutual trust and commitment that is essential to move forward. Commonly they show workaholic tendencies with a high rational underpinning. All of these factors strengthen collaboration and in many instances this business liaison can remain intact despite a breakdown in the partners’ sentimental relationship. Additional findings show that their growth orientation takes multiple structures.

This study provides information that can help investors make decisions to support copreneurial teams that optimize from the use of diverse talents of female and male partners.

Although representing an increasingly common type of start-up team, copreneurship in technology has not yet capture much attention of scholars as case study in family business research.

Inversionistas latinoamericanos usualmente prefieren no invertir en negocios de coemprendedores (parejas en una relación amorosa y de negocio) y sienten incertidumbre cuando esos equipos están liderados por mujeres. Este artículo aborda los asuntos relacionados a mujeres que lideran equipos coemprendedores en negocios tecnológicos y analiza si ellas buscan el crecimiento de su negocio o se limitan a sustentar el estilo de vida.

Responder a la pregunta de investigación requirió una aproximación cualitativa e inductiva. Tres coemprendedoras y dos coemprendedoras divorciadas fueron entrevistadas. Se analizaron los datos y crearon temas emergentes siguiendo la teoría fundamentada.

Equipos coemprendedores en la industria tecnológica tienen niveles de educación y habilidades similares y, a la vez, complementarios. Luego de tres años trabajando juntos, ya conocen las habilidades y fortalezas de la pareja. Esto los ayuda a definir mejor sus roles. Ambos tienen un estilo segmentador que divide trabajo y familia.

Desarrollaron un alto nivel de confianza y compromiso que es esencial para seguir adelante.

Son normalmente equipos trabajólicos y muy racionales. Todos estos factores fortalecen la colaboración y permite incluso que el negocio persista por sobre la relación amorosa.

Además, estos equipos están orientados al crecimiento, y de diversas maneras.

El estudio incluye información dirigida a facilitar la toma de decisiones de inversionistas respecto a cómo invertir apoyando a los equipos coemprendedores para optimizar la diversidad de talentos de la pareja.

A pesar que es cada vez más común ver coemprendedores como configuración de equipo de start-up, el tema no ha recibido mayor atención de académicos como estudio de casos en la investigación en empresas familiares tecnológicas.

This article analyses UK Early Years policy in terms of service expansion and service transformation since the Labour Government's election in 1997. Childcare is now a matter of public policy, driven largely by concerns about child poverty and inequalities in children's life chances. The evidence is considered, first, on service expansion, increased take‐up and increased employment by parents with young children, and, second, on service transformation and child outcomes: to what extent have changes benefited disadvantaged children, families and neighbourhoods? The Effective Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) research shows that pre‐school can boost disadvantaged children's intellectual development in particular, and the article concludes that programmes such as Sure Start and Neighbourhood Nurseries have been successfully targeted at the most disadvantaged areas, although better‐off families and neighbourhoods may have benefited even more, and that problems of cost and sustainability remain. It is too early to judge whether better integrated services now being developed will be successful in transforming the lives of the most disadvantaged children.