Browsing by Subject "Status"
Now showing items 1-5 of 5
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(2020)Status considerations have recently been linked to prosocial behaviors. This research shows that even everyday consumer behaviors such as favoring organic foods serve as prosocial status signaling. Key ideas from the continuum model of consumer impression formation and the theories of costly signaling and symbolic consumption are synthetized to make sense of this phenomenon. Two web-surveys (Ns = 187, 259) and a field study (N = 336) following experimental designs are conducted. This approach allows the analysis of both the more and less conscious reactions of consumers. Study 1 shows that the image of consumers favoring organic product versions is marked by characteristics consistent with prosocial status signaling. Study 2 replicates these findings with another sample and a wider range of products and demonstrate that observers’ conservative values influence the image formed of organic food users. Study 3 establishes that similar image effects also emerge through a less conscious formation process and that they extend to how organic food users are socially treated. This research advances the current understanding concerning the interlinkages between organic food usage, prosocial status signaling, consumer impressions and reputation management. Substantively, the studies provide novel compelling empirical evidence for the ability of non-luxurious everyday consumer behaviors to qualify as prosocial status signaling. Conceptually, the integration of evolutionary and sociocultural perspectives represents a major contribution. More specifically, this research yields new understanding as regards the role of individual variation in sensing and interpreting status symbols.
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(Helsingfors universitet, 2016)This thesis examines the ways of how different elements of identity are performed in massively multiplayer online games. It tries to find patterns in identity construction through observation of features, such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, status and religion and how individuals interact with each other. The aim is to explore the premise that because online games provide endless opportunities for identity performance, and thus these identities might have little to do with reality and the offline world. In order to analyze identities online, a number of key topics are covered. These include identity, performativity of identity, online games and players behavior online. Cross-disciplinary theoretical approach is used to attack the problem. Several identity theories are overviewed (Boellstorff, 2008, 2012; Deterding, Waltz, 2012; Jenkins, 2004; Gilchrist et al. 2015; Wetherell, 2015; Goffman, 1959, 1961a; Appelrouth & Desfor, 2008; Crenshaw, 1989). Here identity is understood as an action - individual’s reaction to the society and as a process. Next, performativity of identity is discussed. Special attention is given to the deeply rooted performance discourse in games (Butler, 1990, 1997, 1999; Deterding, Waltz, 2012; Schechner, 2006; Brooks, 2011; Turner, 1982). Finally, key issues on identity performing online are discussed. Those include interconnectivity of offline and online identity, and how they might correlate (Boellstorff, 2008; Horns, Miller 2012; Kozinets, 2011; McGonigal 2012; Thomas 2007; Nakamura, 2002; Sarkeesian, 2012). The methodology used for collecting and analyzing the data draws from netnography, a sub-discipline of online ethnography and digital anthropology, which allows observing online games as a spectacle (Kozinets, 2011; Boellstorff, 2008; Boellstorff et al. 2012). Massively multiplayer online games provide a good possibility to have a large human sample for performance, games, sociological and cultural studies. Online communities of one such game, Clash of Clans, are observed in the game environment and at forums, where players are interacting with each other through written communication over an extended period of time. Number of observations on how age, status, gender and other elements of identity are performed online are recorded. The examples of online conversations are documented and analyzed and parts of the collected data are presented in the paper. Key findings show that individuals demonstrate their feelings and opinions stronger than in offline setting, since online world assumes less moderation and social constraints. However, even though there is a certain degree of freedom online, it is used sparingly. Certain identity experiments are happening online, for example individuals are trying to play a game as a player of an opposite sex. However, on a verbal level, individuals tend to be more truth to their opinions and beliefs (Schau and Gilly, 2003; Whitty, 2004). A strong interconnectivity of online and offline identities in a digital age is found, so the basic hypothesis is contested. Currently hundreds of millions of people of all age groups are the participants of the massively multiplayer online games daily. Players start to take their online identities seriously and their online life starts to affect offline life, cultural, social norms and beliefs. And since we understand that online and offline identity is affecting each other on a deeper level than ever before, research in online massive multiplayer online games should be carried further. The field of game studies and performativity online should not be overlooked. The way identities are presented online mirror identity presentation in offline world closely.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, 2018)In Finnish day-care centres kindergarten teachers and nursery nurses work together in multi-professional teams. These occupational groups have different qualifications and educational backgrounds. However, earlier studies have shown that many day-care centres don't make use of the multi-professional expertise produced by these different professions. In these centres work assignments are often shared according to the work shifts, regardless of the educational background of the workers. As a result, different educational backgrounds of the staff are sometimes seen, instead of enriching the work, as causing uncertainty about the skills of the professional groups and appropriate work tasks for them. Uncertainty is also caused by the historical roots of the day care. In this study, I tried to clarify the present state of multi-professional teamwork in day-care centres through three research problems. The research problems are: (1) How do the work assignments of the different occupational groups differ from each other in a multi-professional team? (2) What are the challenges for multi-professional teamwork in early childhood education? And (3) Which factors are linked with the personnel's perceptions about the functionality of the multi-professional teamwork? The data was collected through an open internet survey. A total of 157 kindergarten teachers and 136 nursery nurses responded to the survey. The analysis was carried out by the methods of content analysis. Theory directed content analysis was used to clarify the meanings of the open questionnaire replies and to classify the content of the survey in the themes that summarize the research results. According to this study, kindergarten teachers' and nurses' work assignments differ from each other at least in part of the day-care centres. However, this is not the case in every day-care centre because there is a lot of day-care centres where work assignments are not shared at all according to the educational backgrounds, but only by the work shifts. The challenges of the teamwork were everyone does everything -working culture, lack of appreciation, lack of understanding, invisible expertise, and changes that come outside of the day-care centres. The personnel's perceptions about the team's functionality were influenced by the division of the work assignments, the personal characteristics of the team members, the appreciation of others and the actions of the director. In particular, the division of the work assignments created disagreements between the occupational groups. According to this study, the field of early childhood education is undergoing a form of a struggle where occupational groups fight each other with strategies of social closure over capitals and positions.
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(2020)In a representative sample of Finnish car owners (N = 1892) we connected the Five-Factor Model personality dimensions to driving a high-status car. Regardless of whether income was included in the logistic model, disagreeable men and conscientious people in general were particularly likely to drive high-status cars. The results regarding agreeableness are consistent with prior work that has argued for the role of narcissism in status consumption. Regarding conscientiousness, the results can be interpreted from the perspective of self-congruity theory, according to which consumers purchase brands that best reflect their actual or ideal personalities. An important implication is that the association between driving a high-status car and unethical driving behaviour may not, as is commonly argued, be due to the corruptive effects of wealth. Rather, certain personality traits, such as low agreeableness, may be associated with both unethical driving behaviour and with driving a high-status car.
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(2018)As the current research suggests that there are links between prosocial acts and status signaling (including sustainable consumer choices), we empirically study (with three experiments) whether food consumers go green to be seen. First, we examine how activating a motive for status influences prosocial organic food preferences. Then, we examine how the social visibility of the choice (private vs. public) affects these preferences. We found that when consumers' desire for status was elicited, they preferred organic food products significantly over their nonorganic counterparts; making the choice situation visible created the same effect. Finally, we go beyond consumers' evaluative and behavioral domains that have typically been addressed to investigate whether this (nonconscious) "going green to be seen" effect is also evident at the level of more physiologically-driven food responses. Indeed, status motives and reputational concerns created an improved senso-emotional experience of organic food. Specifically, when consumers were led to believe that they have to share their organic food taste experiences with others, an elevation could be detected not only in the pleasantness ratings but also in how joyful and hopeful they felt after eating a food sample. We claim that the reason for this is that a tendency to favor organic foods can be viewed as a costly signaling trait, leading to flaunting about one's prosocial tendencies. According to these findings, highlighting socially disapproved consumption motives, such as reputation management, may be an effective way to increase the relatively low sales of organic foods and thereby promote sustainable consumer behavior. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
