Members of the centre are actively engaged in an eclectic mix of research studies. These can be broadly categorised into seven research themes.
1. Political Consumption and Attack Advertising
Dr. Janine Dermody and Dr. Stuart Hanmer-Lloyd
Our research, overall, is concerned with the electoral engagement of young, British first-time voters in British politics, and the potential consequences for the future of British democracy. Specifically we are empirically researching first-time voters’ attitudes towards electoral politics and politicians – principally their levels of trust, distrust, cynicism and efficacy – all of which are central in understanding youth (dis)engagement from electoral politics. Engagement can also be influenced by the methods of communication employed by political parties. In recent years the increasing use of attack advertising styles in British elections has generated concern over its effects on voting attitudes and behaviour. Consequently in our research we also examine the use of negative advertising – principally issue and image attacks - by political parties during general elections, and young, first-time voters’ attitudes towards these executions.
To date, we have conducted two national, empirical studies – immediately following the 2001 and the 2005 British general elections, with planning for the 2010 election study in progress. This involves qualitative interviews with first-time voters and the advertising agencies and a large scale, national survey of approximately 1000 18-22 year old first-time voters.
Our research indicates that there are some very genuine problems with political parties using attack advertising to communicate with an increasingly distrusting and cynical young electorate. In addition our findings indicate that young peoples’ political trust is low and their distrust and cynicism is high – particularly with respect to their attitudes towards politicians. Although cynicism can be used to engender engagement, personal efficacy must be high, and our research indicates that the degree of personal efficacy is quite fragile, particularly among young women. Consequently our research indicates, strongly, there are problems with message execution and that distrusting and cynical attitudes are prejudicing young people towards all forms of electoral politics, but principally their intolerance of politicians themselves. Our research, therefore, offers significant insights, over a sustained time period, into British electoral politics and the youth electorate, and implications for the future viability of British democracy.
2. Cultural Experiences and Tourism
Chantal Laws and Rob Ferguson
We are jointly examining cultural event experiences, and in particular how small-scale public cultural events provide an arena for the performativity of identity and community. A current project looks at the celebration of Canada Day and considers how local communities express and celebrate concepts of national identity, thus linking the idea of mega events and place promotion to the more modest lived experience of individuals and small groups.
In addition, Chantal is interested in hedonic consumption and liminal events, and is researching event experience and servicescapes across the cultural and entertainment industries.
Rob is also interested in sport and adventure tourism and is currently undertaking a PhD looking at issues associated with Aboriginal Tourism within British Columbia, Canada.
3. Sustainability, Ethics, Fair Trade, and Civic Society
Dr. Janine Dermody and Dr. Stuart Hanmer-Lloyd
In this research study we are exploring whether politicised shopping signifies a new expression of civic culture. With consumerism now a dominant ideology and driver of much behaviour in western society, civic engagement, where individuals act as ‘good citizens’, is, taking a medium term perspective, purported to be both declining and becoming more individualistic. Yet in evaluating consumerism and its implications for civic society, we unveil a blurring of consumerism and citizenship, particularly within the realms of politicised consumption that aims to further sustainability through human, social, and environmental capital. This messy merging of what it means to be a citizen and a consumer indicates that shopping behaviour, with direct ethical qualities and with indirect citizenly characteristics, can give consumers a civic tone of voice within the marketplace, and, as a result, a civic consumer culture emerges.
Consumerism, then, can be empowering, and it has triggered a new expression of personal politics for increasingly reflexive and politicised consumer groups. Thus we appear to be witnessing the emergence of a civic consumer culture, rooted in consumerism merged with citizenship, which means both marketers and policy makers must move away from the dominant perspective that sees market and political spaces as separate competing spheres of individuals’ lives. We propose that this more holistic viewpoint has greater potential to enhance the future health of civic society, and indeed responsible consumerism in contemporary western democracies.
Professor Peter Jones
During the past year my principal research interests have been concerned with sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. I have been exploring how retail organizations have been constructing and addressing sustainable development agendas and my work clearly suggests that such agendas are currently being driven primarily by business imperatives rather than a concern for social responsibility. This work is illustrated in the paper entitled ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in the UK Gambling Industry’ published jointly with Daphne Comfort and David Hillier (University of Glamorgan). I have also undertaken some work on the changing geography of GP provision as illustrated by the paper, co-authored with Daphne Comfort and David Hillier, entitled ‘Primary Health Care Centres in the UK: Putting Policy into Practice.’ More recently I have been investigating two topics, namely the emergence of experience stores and their role in developing bonds between brands; and the contested concept of sustainable consumption and some of the initial results of these investigations have been published in the planning periodicals.
Angela Kalisch
I am particularly interested in the political and ethical issues arising from tourism and fair trade. Tourism is part of the international trade system. It is an intangible, invisible, service export commodity, inherently interconnected with a multiplicity of other commodity markets; be they primary, secondary or tertiary. Tourism is, however, also inherently connected with aspects of people’s lives in tourism destinations that are not commodified for the purpose of an economic transaction. The raw material of tourism is the ‘flesh and blood of people and their cultures’ (Rajendra, 1992), and this includes the natural resources they require for survival. This is why discussions on the trade in tourism cannot be separated from discussions on ethics and justice, in the context of the much debated concept of sustainability. The debates on definitions of sustainable tourism and how realistic or utopian it may be to expect such a concept ever to be an integral part of business practice or government policy is as multifaceted and complex as the diversity of human beliefs and value systems. Such complexity and ambiguity can also often be used as a screen to hide behind, justifying so-called ‘greenwashing’ and unsustainable practices.
It is thus understandable that promoters of the ideas of ethical and sustainable tourism in developing countries should be eager to find a clear and workable solution for redressing controversial issues of inequality and injustice emerging from the trade in tourism in developing countries, using accredited and verifiable measures. In the context of the trade in commodities, one such solution has been developed in the form of the ‘Fair Trade’ paradigm, creating Fair Trade handicrafts, coffee, tea, bananas, amongst others.
The growing popularity of fair trade products in Europe in the 1990s created a basis for an investigation into the feasibility of developing a similar concept for the tourism sector, addressing human rights issues in developing countries. However, tourism is an intangible service product, consumed at the place of production, incorporating a complex system of distribution channels and socio-economic dynamics at global and local levels. This raises the question whether such complexity can be embraced by a number of simple criteria and indicators, in the context of controversies over certification, the value of ‘elitist’ niche products and debates over the need for structural transformation of the international trade system in relation to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Accordingly my research investigates the conceptual and practical implications of this concept in the context of theories embracing ethics, political economy and development.
Dr. Judy Zhu
I am interested in environmental self-identity and sustainable consumption. The topic of sustainability as a major social and environmental issue has received a significant amount of attention in recent years. As an important relevant issue in sustainability, ecological consumption such as organic food consumption has expanded rapidly in the developed countries (Makatouni, 2002). In this research, I try to explore the relationship between consumers’ environmental self-identity and their consumption of organic food in two different cultures: UK and China. Analysis of the UK data shows that of the three most important predictors of consumers’ organic food consumption behaviour reported in the literature (environmental attitude, attitude towards the industry and health concerns), consumers’ feeling of connectedness to nature has the strongest positive influence on the intensity of their organic food consumption. Although consumers’ health concern is positively related to their organic food consumption, the influence is less strong as compared with consumers’ feeling of connectedness to nature. These research findings suggest that consumers’ feeling of connectedness to nature can have a strong predictive power on consumers’ environmentally friendly consumption behaviour. The findings are different from the literature which suggests that health attitude is the major reason of organic food consumption in the UK (Baker, Thompson, Engelken, & Huntley, 2004; Soil Association, 1999).The Chinese data is currently being collected.
4. Consumption, Spaces, Identity and Cultural Values
Andrew Kear
I am interested in what stimulates people to behave in particular ways. In my doctoral research I am exploring the human value orientations of individuals who volunteer for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WISPA), and what this signifies about their sense of who they are.
Dr. Ai Ling Lai
I have recently completed my doctoral research, where I explored how young women’s’ views of their own body influences their attitudes towards cadaveric organ donation. The unique contribution of my thesis lies in its focus on ‘mortal embodiment’ – specifically how the embodiment of mortality shapes young women’s’ ambivalence surrounding the donation of their organs in the event of their death. As a result I was able to offer an alternative critical appraisal of the “gift-of-life” discourse ingrained within UK Transplant’s promotional messages. I plan to continue to research within the realms of mortal embodiment.
Dr. Natalia Tolstikova
I am examining and analysing historical periods in Russian (Soviet) advertising, establishing a link between culture, national mentality and advertising and evaluating the development of marketing/advertising in Russia in relation to traditional cultural values. This work offers some practical implications for marketing managers who are considering entering the lucrative Russian market.
Philippa Ward
My research interests focus on the effects of the in-store physical environment on customers, deshopping, and retail theatre, as well as consumer risk reduction and other aspects of consumer behaviour in the retail context.
Jointly, with Professor Barry Davies, we have researched the use of ambient scent within retail environments, and investigated those mediating factors that help shape the emotional and behavioural responses that are stimulated. To do this, we have drawn on the work of Mehrabian and Russell (1974), and contributed to the work on ambient scent in retailing by extending and elaborating the Gulas and Bloch (1995) model to encompass current research on human olfaction. Further we have considered the ability of smell to communicate a 'sense of place' and its potential as a differentiator in a crowded marketplace.
Dr. Judy Zhu
I am interested in materialism and Chinese cultural values. Materialism is seen as a major characteristic of a consumer society. It has received more and more attention and is regarded as one of the most important macro aspects in consumer behaviour research. In this stream of research, I adopted an emic approach towards cross-cultural consumer research. Taking into account the possible influence of Chinese Confucian cultural orientation to the manifestation of materialism in China, I proposed an alternative measurement scale of materialism as a value orientation in China. A comprehensive review of research literature, together with phenomenological interviews among Chinese young adults, led to the identification of five dimensions of Chinese materialism: acquisition centrality, acquisition as success, acquisition for internal happiness, acquisition for social recognition and possession-based perception of others. The scale was tested and validated using Structural Equation Modelling with LISREL. A second-order confirmatory factor analysis of the scale also revealed that both individualistic and collectivistic meanings of material possessions are important for Chinese young-adult consumers. This is in line with the finding of a separate study of mine on self-construal (Singelis, 1994) which indicates that both individualism and collectivism co-exist as multi-faceted dimensions of Chinese culture.
I am also interested in exploring the impact of consumers’ personality traits on consumption cross-culturally. One of the personality traits I have focused on is consumers’ desire for uniqueness. This trait is related to the customisation behaviour of consumers. While the need for uniqueness may motivate consumers to develop a tendency to be selective and creative in choosing customized products, the extent to which consumers’ need for uniqueness is expressed and satisfied in their preference of products is subject to the social norms in a given culture. There is little empirical evidence or insight into how consumers in a collectivist society such as China embrace the notion of uniqueness and their ability to express counterconformity in preferences of customization without high social cost given the fact that the collectivist culture of China highly values social approval. Using a Chinese student sample, the findings from this research suggests Chinese students’ creative choice counterconformity has a strong influence on their customization behaviour. However, other aspects of desire for uniqueness (avoidance of similarity related to products, unpopular choice counter-conformity and avoidance of similarity related to brands) show non-significant influence on such behaviour.
The Consumption and Communication of Food
A number of projects are in progress. Dr John Laurence, Dr Natalia Tolstikova and Philippa Ward are exploring food purchase and consumption by Polish immigrants in Cheltenham, as indicators of such outcomes as assimilation or rejection of the host culture, nostalgia for the home culture, etc. The semiotics of performance is being used as an analytical framework. Dr Sarah Maddock, with a colleague from the University of the West of England, is exploring male attitudes towards healthy eating issues and the key influences affecting their eating behaviour. Dr Beverley Hill and Dr Sarah Maddock are analysing the changing semantics of food adverts over a 20-30 year period. Kevin Fields is examining gastronomy and the associated cultural issues of consumption. From his examination of food served at conferences he is proposing that national/regional/local identities can be built via conference services such as food and drink - giving a local cultural flavour to conferences and supporting the local economy at the same time.
5. Language, Discourse and Communication
Dr. Beverley Hill
This research theme, focusing on the use of language theory and linguistic techniques to explore marketing, consumer and communication issues, is a reflection of the broader management interest in language, discourse and communication in research. I adopt a cross-disciplinary approach that encompasses English Language (rhetoric, semantics, socio-linguistics), and Social Sciences (eg discourse analysis, conversation analysis, CDA, discursive psychology). Previous research within this theme has used discursive psychology to explore how identities are rhetorically constructed within political speeches, and how sociolinguistic theories of politeness can offer insights into the respondent’s representation of their identity within a research interview context. My current research examines the changing language of food marketing, and I am also exploring the value of teaching rhetorical skills to Business and Management students.