CENTRE FOR CULTURE, ORGANISATION AND MARKETS
SEMINAR SERIES 2015-2016
The Centre for Culture, Organisation and Markets [COM] seminar series provides a forum for the presentation of critical approaches to the study of work, cultures of work, work systems/organisation, and to markets, consumers and consumption within the context of social and economic change. Embracing qualitative and ethnographic methods, research perspectives are inter-disciplinary and sensitive to gendered social relations in work and consumption and to issues of power and identity in cultural formations.
SEMESTER ONE
25 Nov, 2-3 pm, DW0.26 Darwin Building
Professor Adrian Palmer, Keele University
Title: Measuring implicit attitudes in consumer research
Attitudes are important to understanding and predicting consumer behaviour. However, marketers have traditionally measured attitudes by reference to respondents’ verbalised expressions, allowing for recorded results to be influenced by perceived social norm, among other things. It may therefore be unsurprising that stated attitude and intention often does not correlate with subsequent behaviour.
In recent years, consumer researchers have been increasing interest in implicit attitudes, and to some they have been likened to a “Holy Grail” of marketing which taps subconscious, deeply held attitudes. (Nevid, 2010). “New implicit measures” have emerged that tap evaluative associations stored in memory automatically and unconsciously, without need for introspection and self-reporting (Petty, Fazio, & Briñol, 2009). Among these, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has gained considerable support on account of its claimed validity and reliability properties and has been the most widely used in a variety of studies in the social sciences. This presentation will report on results of a study into attitudes towards food choices which used this methodology.
2 Dec, 12-1 pm, DW0.26 Darwin Building
Dr Andreas Chatzidakis, Royal Holloway, University of London
Title: Skoros: Anti-Consumption in Crisis
Abstract:I am going to screen afilm about Skoros, an anti-consumerist collective in Exarcheia, Athens that was established in 2008, right before the beginning of the Crisis. It runs a space where people can come and give, take, or give and take goods and exchange services without any expectations of reciprocity. Originally, Skoros emerged as a response to an increasingly commercialized and consumerist (Athenian) society. It represented an experimentation with doing things differently: by gifting, sharing, and exchanging; and by foregrounding the values of communality, degrowth, solidarity and social justice.Soon after however came the Greek "Crisis", a new kind of "here and now" focusing less on trying to do things differently and more on urgency, a need to provide solidarity to an increasing number of people that were nearing and falling below the poverty line. Thefilm is produced and directed almost entirely by members of the collective, in an attempt to narrate the evolution of what seemed to be a rather simple idea.The film is also about the power of people to exercise agency in the face of formidable socio-economic circumstances, it is about solidarity/ies, and the collective joys of doing things differently.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/andreas-chatzidakis/anti-consumption-in-crisis
SEMESTER TWO
17 Feb, 1-2 pm, DW0.26 Darwin Building
Dr Pamela Carter, Leicester University
Title: Participation, involvement and engagement – more than a question of semantics
Internationally, the distinctions between the state, the market and civil society are becoming increasingly blurred. Governance theories show the complexity and interdependency of relationships between actors and institutions working across these fields. We are currently conducting a qualitative case study incorporating ethnographic methods to research the process and effects of patient and public involvement in one region of the English NHS. To date we have conducted in-depth interviews with a sample of members of the public / patients who get involved, Healthwatch Chief Executive Officers and Chairs of Health and Wellbeing Boards. In the next few months we will be interviewing NHS staff and observing involvement processes.
Our focus of inquiry is on a relatively new body Healthwatch, described as a ‘consumer champion’. Healthwatch is mandated to involve volunteers in its work of amplifying the voice of local people who use statutory health and social care services. Commissioned by local authorities, Healthwatch organisations are entitled to a seat on the local Health and Wellbeing Board. They have powers to ‘enter and view’ NHS and social care establishments and report their findings to these providers and to commissioners. Preliminary findings suggest that statutory bodies are actively engaging local public(s) as they plan for service transformation. Recognisable tensions surface around how public(s) are constituted, how deliberative or not methods of engagement are, as well as the usual problematic issue of representation. Findings are emerging around legal definitions and requirements for statutory consultation in the context of major service changes. It appears that patient and public engagement is being carried out in an attempt to pre-empt objection to proposed service changes when these are formally presented for legal consultation. This raises interesting theoretical questions about governance and governmentality and empirical questions concerning agenda setting and manipulation versus empowerment and co-production.
March 2, 1-2 pm, DW0.30 Darwin Building
Dr Morven McEachern, Salford Business School
Title: Creating Social & Ethical Capital: A Focus on Alternative Food Retailers
Abstract: In a retail marketplace which features increasing public scrutiny of corporate citizenship behaviours (McEachern, 2015) and growing economic vulnerabilities amongst consumers (Cappellini et al., 2014; O’Loughlin et al., 2015), calls are made for businesses to demonstrate a greater commitment towards delivering social outcomes (Doherty et al., 2014; Yunus et al., 2010). In response, a growing array of hybrid retail enterprises are surfacing and expanding (in some cases) across the UK with the aim of delivering both social and ethical capital. In view of the scant attention in the marketing discipline given to alternative models of food retailing (Maguire et al., 2015) and the particular lack of emphasis on ethical capital (Gupta et al., 2001), this study aims to explore the nature of ethical capital within such formats. Using a purposive sample of six food retail enterprises across the UK, this qualitative study uses the lens of social and ethical capital to explore the nature of social value creation within their respective communities. Preliminary findings are discussed.
April 13, 2-3 pm, DW0.27 Darwin Building
Dr Mohammed Ishaq, University of the West of Scotland
Title: Equality and Diversity in the British Armed Forces: Progress, Challenges and Prospects
Abstract: The UK’s changing political and legal landscape since 2000 reflecting transformations in wider society have elevated equality and diversity (E&D) issues to prominence in the public sector, including in the British armed forces. This research highlights key developments in the British military in relation to E&D, focusing both on areas of progress, and on the challenges still confronting the Forces. The findings reveal that the Forces have made significant strides in advancing E&D through the implementation of a range of policy initiatives but the persistence of discrimination, developments in the wider environment and the dilemmas raised by the strands of age and disability pose challenges. The value of this research is to increase our understanding of diversity management in a public sector institution that has been under researched and views itself as ‘different’, and will be of interest to policymakers, E&D practitioners and academics in the field.
May 11, 1-2 pm, CM0.12 Claus Moser Building
Professor John Blenkinsopp, University of Hull
Title: 'A genealogy of whistleblowing research'
June 1, 1-2 pm, DW0.30 Darwin Building
Dr Peter McInnes, Strathclyde Business School
Title: ‘Containing paradox – Discursive tensions and the heteroterse narrative form - The document based discourse analysis of the Forth road bridge inquiry.’
June 7, 2-3pm, DW0.30 Darwin Building
Maria Laura Toraldo¹ and Gianluigi Mangia²
¹ Università della Svizzera italiana ² Grenoble Ecole de Management
Title: ‘Modes of knowing: Video research and the problem of elusive knowledges’
The current paper argues that video-based methodologies offer unique potential for multi-modal research applications. Multi-modal research, further, can respond to the problem of “elusive knowledges”, that is, tacit, aesthetic, and embodied aspects of organizational life that are difficult to articulate in traditional methodological paradigms. We argue that the multi-modal qualities of video, including but not limited to its visual properties, provide a scaffold for translating embodied, tacit and aesthetic knowledge into discursive and textual forms, enabling the representation of organizational knowledge through academic discourse. First, we outline the problem of representation by comparing different forms of elusive knowledge, framing this problem as one of cross-modal translation. Second, we describe how video’s unique affordances place it in an ideal position to address this problem. Third, we demonstrate how video-based solutions can contribute to research, providing examples both from the literature and from our own applied case work as models for video-based approaches. Finally, we discuss the implications and limitations of the proposed video approaches as a methodological support.