Donald Baack

Culturally Customizing Websites for U.S. Hispanic Online Consumers

ABSTRACT The U.S. Hispanic online market consists of the most affluent and educated members of the U.S. Hispanic population. The segment is large, increasing in size, and its members prefer culturally-adapted marketing messages. Currently, no frameworks are available to help marketers culturally customize websites for U.S. Hispanics. The objective of this study is to address this gap. The goals are to identify the ways in which Hispanic preferences for web design elements differ, and to explore how these preferences vary based on acculturation. The results indicate that Hispanics have culturally-rooted preferences for web content and that acculturation levels are important segmentation variables.

The personal imapact of ethical decisiosn: A social penetration theory

There are gaps in the Social and Ethical issues literature regarding the structure of individual ethical reasoning and the process through which personal ethical standards erode or decline. Social Penetration Theory may be used to view ethical issues of low, moderate, or high salience. It also produces a model of the process by which an individual turns to less desirable ethical reasoning and behavior.

The Death of the Subject and the Life of the Organization Implications of New Approaches to Subjectivity for Organizational Analysis

Challenges to traditional notions of subjectivity have been a central preoccupation of new theory over the past 20 years, yet the clear applicability of such reconceptions of the subject to organizational studies has received little attention. This article traces the development of arguments about subjectivity from the influential essays of Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault and then summarizes more recent ideas about the nature of relational or positional subjectivity. These new theoretical developments are applied to organizational analysis, closing with suggested applications of new subjectivity to specific topics in organizational theory and behavior.

A catastrophe theory model of technological and structural change

Abstract The relationship between organizational structure and company technology has often been viewed from a static, cross-sectional perspective. However, there are few examples of theoretical development regarding changes in technology combined with changes in structure. This article develops a catastrophe theory model which provides a framework for examining technological change and corresponding structural adaptation.

Culturally Customizing Websites for Immigrant Communities in the United States

Recent research suggests that the customization of online marketing messages to meet the cultural preferences of immigrant communities increases preferences for those messages. Level of acculturation may be used as a segmentation variable that accounts for this effect, with lower levels of acculturation matching the preference for the home countrys culture in marketing messages. Comparisons between Asian- and Hispanic-American preferences across levels of acculturation are made, and possible convergences in preferences through acculturation are examined. The results indicate that Taiwanese-Americans have culturally-rooted preferences for web content based on their acculturation levels. Furthermore, the study shows that the web content preferences of Taiwanese- and Hispanic-American consumers converge as members of these groups acculturate.

Organizational Commitment Levels Among Clergy: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract This research examines demographic, personal, and organizational predictors of organizational commitment for paid employees in non-profit settings. Outcomes of commitment including hours worked and intentions to quit are also examined. These data indicate mat the calculative form of commitment, as expressed by salary in relation to hours worked and other outcomes, may be the most germane for non-profit paid-employee settings.

Citizen Preferences Regarding New City Services: Demographics Predictors and Patterns of Opinion

ABSTRACT This study identifies patterns of preferences with regard to future city services, in a sample (n = 707) taken from a local citizen survey. Demographic variables including the age, level of education, gender, and length of residence in a community indicate differences in priorities when citizens make various choices concerning potential new services. Also, other factors including income levels and renter/owner status revealed systematic differences in picking the potential services which would have the greatest utility for individual citizens. Some services or activities which citizens preferred were “lumped together” as patterns of preferences, as suggested by a factor analysis of responses.