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Smart home (SH) internet of things can promote home safety, health monitoring and independence of older adults to age-in-place. Despite its commercial growth, low adoption rates of the technology among aging consumers remain a major barrier. The purpose of this study is to examine SH technology ownership of older adults and its causal pathways with demographics, health and functioning, home safety and information communication technology (ICT) use.

A survey on technology-mediated aging-in-place was completed by 447 respondents, 65 years and older. Structural equation modeling was used to underscore the causal pathways among demographics, health, independence and home safety, ICT and home automation technology adoption.

The study found that ICT usability, home security and independence have a significant direct effect on SH ownership. Demographics had no significant direct effect, but its influence was mediated through ICT usability. With home safety as mediator, physical impairment, falls and accidents and independence had a significant association with SH ownership. Similarly, increased social support (mediated through home security) decreased the probability of SH automation ownership.

The findings signify the perceived usefulness of SH automation as theorized in technology acceptance models.

Telepresence robots have gained prominence as a novel technological modality for mobile videoconferencing. Although the technology has mass appeal in the realm of telehealth and patient–health provider communication, its integration in community living settings for older adults has not been extensively studied. The aim of this study was to gather the perspectives of residents, trainers and staff at a retirement facility on their experience with a telepresence robot during and following a five-week wellness program.

The study employed semi-structured interviews with ten stakeholders who were involved in the wellness program followed by a qualitative content analysis of the data. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology served as the interview framework to explore the facilitators and barriers to the implementation of the robot.

Independent coding of the data by the study investigators identified discrete as well as interconnected categories among the stakeholders. Residents expressed their changing ideation of the robot, affinity toward the technology, preference for human connection and future value. Perspectives of the trainers, the fellow residents (ambassadors) and staff pertained to their need for increased engagement, growing comfort with the technology, usability challenges and importance of coordination and training.

Older adults' outlook and comfort with telepresence robots improve with continuing exposure to the technology for healthcare and social connectivity needs. However, in-person care is also preferred initially and periodically to engage with their health providers meaningfully and effectively via the robot. To address long term feasibility and usability, the authors propose a hierarchical approach when integrating telepresence robots in community living facilities for older adults. Information technology education, staff training and reliable internet connectivity are the precursors to optimizing the value and perceived usefulness of the technology.

This article examines aspects of information communication technology (ICT) connectivity among the understudied population of low-income older adults living in rural and peri-urban subsidized housing. We aim to investigate if variations exist in access and connectivity when economic and housing conditions are constant and use data from northern New England.

The multidisciplinary, mixed-methods approach involved administering structured surveys using iPads with senior residents (n = 91) from five housing sites, qualitative observations by field researchers and an ecological assessment of ICT resources at housing, community and state levels.

All subsidized housing sites were broadband accessible and nearby libraries. Fewer sites had Wi-Fi freely available to residents, and individual residents disparately accessed the Internet. Age and education demonstrably influenced ICT use of social media and email. Technology in the form of iPads used for surveys posed functional challenges for some older adults, but these technology-mediated interactions were also perceived as important sites of sociability.

Older adults disparately access and use ICT relative to socioeconomic status even as housing conditions remain constant, and access and use influences frequency of social connections with friends and family. The findings reveal factors that contribute to the existing digital divide facing older adults and broader lack of digital equity.

The digital environment afforded by social networks has created an opportunity to understand more clearly the impact of social media native advertising on advertising processing outcomes. Thus, the current study integrates native advertising with engagement literature to compare engagement outcomes between feed and banner placements before analyzing engagement outcomes of sponsored social media posts by advertising objective. This work aims to contribute to advertising effectiveness literature arguing for the importance of engagement as a measure of effectiveness.

Facebook advertising data were collected from a convenience sample of 10 Facebook advertisers that accounted for roughly $414,000 in advertising spend. Panel data, which are also called longitudinal or cross-sectional time-series data, used 26 months of data from the 10 advertisers to measure relationships between native advertising exposure and digital consumer engagement with advertising by advertising objectives of brand awareness, link clicks, conversions, post-engagement and video views.

Exposure to native advertising was a strong predictor of advertising processing and consumption using the three variables of interest: clicks, comments and shares. Ads reaching consumers while natively consuming content in their feed resulted in statistically significant improvements in impressions and clicks when compared to banner ads. Exposure to native ads was significantly related to all engagement outcomes of interest, except for advertisers who chose post-engagement as their advertising objective.

The results suggest that for advertisers seeking clicks, post-engagement objectives should likely be avoided. For this group, impressions were not related to link clicks but were related to comments and shares. Native advertising placements in the feed, however, are generally more effective than banner ads on Facebook for advertisers seeking engagement.

This research is one of few studies to use longitudinal advertising data to explore engagement effects using real-world data collected from a diverse set of Facebook advertisers over a 26-month period. This study shows that interactive marketers using a social media feed to reach consumers can expect positive outcomes in advertising consumption, affective and cognitive processing and advocacy, but those outcomes may vary by advertising objective.

Given the uniqueness of the data set, the findings contribute to native advertising literature and to the literature on digital consumer engagement with advertising in social media. The study also provides empirical support for the efficacy of native advertising.

Competition in the international textiles markets has been tremendous. With the previously‐strong British industry looking unhappy after taking some body blows recently, it is time for the companies to strive hard. Report by Malcolm Bennett; colour photograph by Paul Berriff.

From the viewpoint of corporate directors and managers, mergers and acquisitions have become the tail that wags the dog. The “market for corporate control” (as it has been dubbed by approving economists) now makes a substantial impact on trading activity in the stock market, contributing to the displacement of the traditional market function of capital formation. “Maximization of share‐holder value” has become a rallying cry—not for managers‘ efforts to make corporate enterprises more productive, but for takeover proponents’ belief that selling the business should be the primary goal of corporate ownership.

In the period before Britain entered the European Community and again at the Labour Government's referendum, one factor which caused most concern in both those in favour and those against entry, was the possible loss of sovereignty by the Houses of Parliament to a supra‐national body. That there would be some loss was accepted but fears that it would be anything more than minimal were discounted, and not enough to affect the lives of ordinary people. Far‐reaching changes required by some of the EEC food directives and regulations, which even if held in abeyance for the usual transitional period will have to be implemented eventually, must be causing many to have second thoughts on this. If more were needed, the embarassing situation at the recent energy conference, at which Britain, as a major oil producer, demanded a separate seat, but had to submit to the overall authority of the Community, the other members of which, figuratively, do not produce a gallon of oil between them. A shift of power from Whitehall to Brussels may not be so evident at higher levels of government, however, as in secondary legislation; the language of the departments of government.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a retrospection on the importance, origins and development of the research programs in the author’s career.

The study uses an autobiographical approach.

Most of the articles, research monographs and books that constitute this research and publishing efforts can be categorized into seven distinct, but related, research programs: channels of distribution; marketing theory; marketing’s philosophy debates; macromarketing and ethics; relationship marketing; resource-advantage theory; and marketing management and strategy. The value system that has guided these research programs has been shaped by specific events that took place in the author’s formative years. This essay chronicles these events and the origins and development of the seven research programs.

Chronicling the importance, origins and development of the seven research programs will hopefully motivate and assist other scholars in developing their own research programs.

Since the seminal contributions of Chandler and Williamson, a substantial body of research in industrial organization has examined the performance benefits of the organizational innovation of divisionalization. While existing empirical work has, for the most part, utilized a static framework to analyse the performance effects of divisionalization, adopts a dynamic approach, thereby allowing the intertemporal nature of any such performance benefits to be examined. Presents results from the UK manufacturing industry; the model estimated uses a spline function to incorporate differing organizational regimes over time. The results obtained are less supportive of the benefits of divisionalization than certain of the earlier empirical studies; thus the evidence presented lends no support to the view that organizational change provides unambiguous performance benefits for the firm.