A cross cultural examination of consumer behaviour and GM food products : results from Australian and South Korean female consumers

The call for the cross cultural examination and validation of commonly accepted relationships within consumer behaviour is strengthening. Consequently, this paper seeks to address this call by examining consumer risk perceptions, reliance on country of origin information and willingness to buy Genetically Modified (GM) food products on Australian and South Korean consumers. Findings indicate a number of cross cultural similarities and differences that have both theoretical and practical implications.

Organizational factors impacting on patient satisfaction : a cross sectional examination of service climate and linkages to nurses' effort and performance

Background Patient satisfaction is influenced by the setting in which patients are treated and the employees providing care. However, to date, limited research has explained how health care organizations or nurses influence patient satisfaction. Objectives The purpose of this study was to test the model that service climate would increase the effort and performance of nursing groups and, in turn, increase patient satisfaction. Method This study incorporated data from 156 nurses, 28 supervisors, and 171 patients. A cross-sectional design was utilized to examine the relationship between service climate, nurse effort, nurse performance and patient satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the proposed relationships. Results Service climate was associated with the effort that nurses directed towards technical care and extra-role behaviors. In turn, the effort that nurses exerted predicted their performance, as rated by their supervisors. Finally, task performance was a significant predictor of patient satisfaction. Conclusions This study suggests that both hospital management and nurses play a role in promoting patient satisfaction. By focusing on creating a climate for service, health care managers can improve nursing performance and patient satisfaction with care.

Credibility and Signaling in Disinflation- a Cross Country Examination

This paper develops a model of money demand where the opportunity cost of holding money is subject to regime changes. The regimes are fully characterized by the mean and variance of inflation and are assumed to be the result of alternative government policies. Agents are unable to directly observe whether government actions are indeed consistent with the inflation rate targeted as part of a stabilization program but can construct probability inferences on the basis of available observations of inflation and money growth. Government announcements are assumed to provide agents with additional, possibly truthful information regarding the regime. This specification is estimated and tested using data from the Israeli and Argentine high inflation periods. Results indicate the successful stabilization program implemented in Israel in July 1985 was more credible than either the earlier Israeli attempt in November 1984 or the Argentine programs. Government’s signaling might substantially simplify the inference problem and increase the speed of learning on the part of the agents. However, under certain conditions, it might increase the volatility of inflation. After the introduction of an inflation stabilization plan, the welfare gains from a temporary increase in real balances might be high enough to induce agents to raise their real balances in the short-term, even if they are uncertain about the nature of government policy and the eventual outcome of the stabilization attempt. Statistically, the model restrictions cannot be rejected at the 1% significance level.

A cross-cultural examination of the psychometric properties of responses to the Achievement Goal Questionnaire

The psychometric properties of scores from the Achievement Goal Questionnaire were examined in samples of Japanese (N = 326) and Canadian (N = 307) post secondary students. Previous research found evidence of a four-factor structure of achievement goals in U.S. samples. Using confirmatory factor-analytic techniques, the authors found strong evidence for the four-factor structure of achievement goals in both the Canadian and Japanese populations. Subsequent multi group structural equation modeling indicated the metric invariance of this four-factor structure across the two populations.

An examination of cross-border strategies in banking

The paper examines the process of bank internationalisation and explores how banks become international organisations and what this involves. It also makes an assessment of the significance of their international operations and determines whether banks are truly global organisations. The empirical data are based on the 60 largest banks in the world and content analysis is used to categorise the information into the eight international strategies of Atamer, Calori, Gustavsson, and Menguzzato-Boulard [Internationalisation strategies. In R. Calori, T. Atamer, & P. Nunes (Eds.), The dynamics of international competition – from practice to theory, strategy series (pp. 162–206). London: Sage (2000)] and Bryan, Fraser, Oppenheim, and Rall [Race for the World strategies to build a great global firm. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press (1999)]. The findings suggest that the majority of banks focus on countries or geographic regions in which they have some sort of cultural or economic affinity. Moreover, apart from a relatively small number of very large banks, they are international rather than truly global organisations.

A cross-continental examination and comparison of descriptive criteria in marketing journals-AMJ, EJM and JM

The objective is to perform a cross-continental examination and comparison of non-traditional descriptive criteria in a selection of leading academic journals in marketing. The sample of journals is restricted to the examination and comparison of three academic journals in marketing. The journal sample consists of the Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), the European Journal of Marketing (EJM) and the Journal of Marketing (JM). Empirical research manuscripts dominate in the selected marketing journals. In addition, in the selected journals regular issues dominate in favour of special issues. The descriptive criteria examined and compared in AMJ, EJM and JM are based upon the content analysis of 811 manuscripts published during a six-year period, namely 2000-2005. Manuscripts of types other than empirical research, such as general reviews, literature reviews, conceptual papers, commentaries and book reviews are less likely to get published. Special issues or special sections are less frequent in these journals. This may lead to the situation that specialized journals in sub-areas of marketing may provide better and more comprehensive leading edge coverage and knowledge. The insights provided are in particular valuable for those scholars that do not usually get involved in academic publishing and consequently have a limited understanding and experience of the publication arena of manuscripts in leading academic journals. These insights also will be informative for more experienced academic publishers as they highlight certain characteristics of these journals that enlighten one as to the journals that one should target for publication and the difficulty, just on a numbers basis alone, of getting published in one of these three journals. The principal contribution of this research is the examination and comparison of descriptive criteria in AMJ, EJM and JM – a cross-continental sample of journals and criteria that have not been explored or reported previously in literature.

A cross-cultural examination of barriers to social inclusion for children : a qualitative study using child-centred methods

Social exclusion is a risk factor for mental health problems. This study aims to identify the factors that contribute to social exclusion for children from several cultural backgrounds, living in low-socioeconomic status (SES) areas. Children from English, Chinese and Arabic speaking backgrounds participated in semi-structured interviews. They were asked questions around three prominent themes of social exclusion: exclusion from school, social activities and social networks. Children from English and Chinese speaking backgrounds experienced exclusion at school, from social activities or in social networks. The major barriers to social inclusion, which differed across cultural groups, included bullying, time constraints, economic resources and parental permission. Although money is a barrier to social inclusion, there are several other barriers that need to be considered, such as bullying, time and parental permission, and they may differ by culture. Mental health promotion programmes in schools and communities need to address these barriers in a culturally appropriate manner.

A cross-cultural examination of social and sexual behaviour in High Functioning Autism and Down Syndrome

The focus of this research was to obtain an understanding of the social and sexual behaviour of adolescents with High Functioning Autism (HFA) or Down Syndrome (DS) in comparison to Typically Developing (TD) adolescents across cultures. The findings highlight the importance of cross-cultural research and indicate the need for sex education. The portfolio presents four case studies which support the proposition that insecure attachment is only likely to lead to depression in the presence of socially-related and other psychological difficulties, since not all insecurely attached children develop depressive symptoms.

An examination of the health and wellbeing of childless women : A cross-sectional exploratory study in Victoria, Australia

Background
Childlessness among Australian women is increasing. Despite this, little is known about the physical and mental health and wellbeing of childless women, particularly during the reproductive years. The aims of this exploratory study were to: 1) describe the physical and mental health and wellbeing and lifestyle behaviours of childless women who are currently within the latter part of their reproductive years (30 – 45 years of age); and 2) compare the physical and mental health and wellbeing and lifestyle behaviours of these childless women to Australian population norms.
Methods
A convenience sample of 50 women aged between 30 and 45 years were recruited to participate in a computer assisted telephone interview. The SF-36 Health Survey v2 and lifestyle indicators were collected in regards to women’s health and wellbeing. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-tests for independent sample means and 95% confidence intervals for the difference between two independent proportions.
Results
Childless women in this study reported statistically significant poorer general health, vitality, social functioning and mental health when compared to the adult female population of Australia. With the exception of vegetable consumption, lifestyle behaviours were similar for the childless sample compared to the adult female population in Australia.
Conclusions
Childless women may be at a greater risk of experiencing poor physical and mental health when compared to the Australian population. A woman’s health and wellbeing during her reproductive years may have longer term health consequences and as such the health and wellbeing of childless women requires further investigation to identify and address implications for the provision of health (and other social) services for this growing population group.

An examination of the mediating role of salt knowledge and beliefs on the relationship between socio-demographic factors and discretionary salt use: a cross-sectional study

Background Discretionary salt use varies according to socio-demographic factors. However, it is unknown whether salt knowledge and beliefs mediate this relationship. This study examined the direct and indirect effect of socio-demographic factors on salt knowledge and discretionary salt use in a sample of 530 Australian adults.

Methods An internet based cross-sectional survey was used to collect data for this study. Participants completed an online questionnaire which assessed their salt knowledge, beliefs and salt use behaviour. Mplus was used to conduct structural equation modelling to estimate direct and indirect effects.

Results The mean age of the participants was 49.2 years, and about a third had tertiary education. Discretionary salt use was inversely related to age (r=-0.11; p<0.05), and declarative salt knowledge (knowledge of factual information) scores (r = -0.17; p<0.01), but was positively correlated with misconceptions about salt (r = 0.09; p<0.05) and beliefs about the taste of salt (r = 0.51; p<0.001). Structural equation modelling showed age, education and gender were indirectly associated with the use of discretionary salt through three mediating pathways; declarative salt knowledge, misconceptions about salt and salt taste beliefs.

Conclusions Inequalities observed between socio-demographic groups in their use of discretionary salt use can potentially be reduced through targeted salt knowledge and awareness campaigns.

Escitalopram efficacy in depression a cross-ethnicity examination of the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism

Current evidence suggests that polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) predicts antidepressant efficacy in whites but less so in Asians. However, it is not clear whether this effect can be observed for specific types of antidepressant drugs. White (n = 47) and Korean (n = 118) participants with major depressive disorder were treated with escitalopram and assessed over 8 weeks. Among those with the l/l but not l/s or s/s genotypes, whites had greater depression score reductions, response rates, and remission rates compared with Koreans. Our results suggest that 5-HTTLPR predicts escitalopram efficacy in an ethnicity-dependent manner.

A cross-sectional examination of non-suicidal self-injury, disordered eating, impulsivity, and compulsivity in a sample of adult women

Non-suicidal self-injury has been classed as having both impulsive and compulsive characteristics (Simeon & Favazza, 2001). These constructs have been related to disordered eating behaviors such as vomiting (Favaro & Santonastaso, 1998). Utilizing an international sample of adult females, this paper further explored this model, aiming to identify whether all types of disordered eating could be classified as impulsive or compulsive, and whether the impulsive and compulsive groupings reflect underlying trait impulsivity and compulsivity. The hypothesized impulsive and compulsive dimensions did not emerge from the data. Notably however, all self-injurious and disordered eating behaviors were linked to Urgency (an impulsivity facet) to varying degrees; no relationship with trait compulsivity was found. These findings are discussed, study limitations are noted, and relevance for clinical practice is outlined.

Cross-cultural examination of the structure of the Revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire (APS-POQ-R)

This study investigated the cross-cultural factor stability and internal consistency of the Revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire (APS-POQ-R); a measure of the quality of postoperative pain management employed internationally. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of APS-POQ-R data from two point-prevalence studies comprising 268 and 311 surveys of Danish and Australian medical-surgical patients. Parallel analysis indicated four and three factor solutions for Danish and Australian patients respectively, which accounted for 58.1% and 52.9% of variance. Internal consistency was unsatisfactory among both Danish (Cronbach α=.54) and Australian (Cronbach α=.63) cohorts. There was a high degree of between-group similarity in item-factor loadings of variables coded as "pain experience", but not "pain management". This reflected cross-cultural differences in ratings of treatment satisfaction. For Danish patients, satisfaction was associated with the degree of pain severity and activity interference whereas for Australian patients, satisfaction was associated with their perceived ability to participate in treatment. To facilitate further cross-cultural comparison, we compared our findings to past research conducted in the U.S. and Iceland. EFA supported the construct validity of the APS-POQ-R as a measure of "pain experience", but indicated that items measuring "pain management" may vary cross-culturally. Findings highlighted the need for further validation of the APS-POQ-R internationally. PERSPECTIVE: This study revealed the APS-POQ-R as a valid measure of postoperative pain experience for Danish and Australian patients. Measures of patients' perception of pain management were not robust to group differences in treatment expectations and demonstrated cross-cultural instability. Results highlighted difficulties in establishing stable cross-cultural, cross-population subscales for the APS-POQ-R.