Customers as spatial and social influencers on other customers in the social-servicescape

In marketing, considerable attention has been devoted both to the understanding of consumer behaviour and the impact of the physical environment on the behaviour of consumers within these settings. Yet surprisingly, little attention has been given to the influence of customers on other customers in such settings. But within the environment it could be argued that social stimuli are likely to receive more attention than non-social or physical stimuli (Guerin, 1993). Psychologists have asserted that the mere presence (or absence) of people will affect the behaviour of others. Thus we argue in this paper that customers impact on other customers within the social servicescape. This paper presents the findings of an observational study of 225 episodes which took place within a selected servicescape - four cafes. We found that the presence of other customers appeared to positively influence duration of the stay (social influence), and that customers appeared to exhibit a desire for the presence of other customers in this social setting in that customers appeared to be drawn spatially to where customers were already seated (spatial influence). We draw from psychology, in particular, social facilitation theory (Platania and Morin, 2001; Zajonc, 1965), affiliative conflict theory (Argyle and Dean 1965; Knowles 1980, 1989) and from psychology and sociology in terms of the basic emotional need for a “sense of belonging” (Hagerty, Williams and Oe 2002) in order to develop the conceptual framework for this study. Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed, as well as directions for further research.

Remembering sport history: Narrative, social memory and the origins of the rugby league in Australia

This study examines the historiography of the origins of rugby league in Australia. By accepting the inclusive nature of representation of the past as found in social memory theory, a wide range of sources ranging from histories written by academics to annuals, yearbooks and newspaper books are consulted. These sources reveal that there are several competing and conflicting accounts of the emergence of rugby league in Australia. These divergent accounts are used to facilitate a discussion of the role of narrative in sport history This article argues that narrative is an integral, not optional, feature of the production of history and that the historography of the origins of rugby league highlight the problematic nature of objectivity in history and the unavoidable, impositionalist role of the historian.

The role of affect, fairness, and social perception in team member exchange

Accumulating evidence suggests that Team-member exchange (TMX) influences employee work attitudes and behaviours separately from the effects of leader-member exchange (LMX). In particular, little is known of the effect of LMX differentiation (in-group versus out-group) as a process of social exhange that can, in turn, affect TMX quality. To explore this phenomenon, this chapter presents a multi-level model of TMX in organizations, which incorporates LMX differentiation, team identification, team member affect at the individual level, and fairness of LMX differentiation and affective climate at the group-level. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our model for theory, research, and practice.

Reconceptualising social sustainability in urban development

Although the social dimension is often cited as the third leg of triple bottom line sustainability, there is at present general agreement on the difficulty of saying just what social sustainability is and how it can be related to enivironmental sustainability. This paper proposes that a sociotechnical understanding of the relationship beween human behaviour and technical developments provides a way of making the social dimension accessible to engineers, designers and developers. We draw on early work in master planned urban developments to show how a sociotechnical model, married to a life cycle assessment approach can help us understand and design for effective and efficient implementation of sustainability systems

Sudanese Refugee Narratives of Social Distress

This working paper provides an 'archive' of Sudanese refugee narratives of distress. The narratives have been interpreted within through the lens of Bourdieu's social distress.

Language policy spread: Learning from health and social policy models

Except for a few large scale projects, language planners have tended to talk and argue among themselves rather than to see language policy development as an inherently political process. A comparison with a social policy example, taken from the United States, suggests that it is important to understand the problem and to develop solutions in the context of the political process, as this is where decisions will ultimately be made.

Review of diagnostic screening instruments for alcohol and other drug use and other psychiatric disorders

In recent years there has been a growing recognition that many people with drug or alcohol problems are also experiencing a range of other psychiatric and psychological problems. The presence of concurrent psychiatric or psychological problems is likely to impact on the success of treatment services. These problems vary greatly, from undetected major psychiatric illnesses that meet internationally accepted diagnostic criteria such as those outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association (1994), to less defined feelings of low mood and anxiety that do not meet diagnostic criteria but nevertheless impact on an individual’s sense of wellbeing and affect their quality of life.