ISSUE 10 FIFTYFOURDEGREES Lancaster University Management School | the place to be 10 26 Covid exposes Italy’s problemwith women Greenat home, Greenatwork 46What shall we do with our Eden? AVIRULENTSTRAINOF PROZAC LEADERSHIP
Findoutmore atwww.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/business/executive-education Introductory webinar: Discover conversational frameworks and skills. Ten-week Post Graduate module: An introduction to formal and informal coaching/mentoring theory. Twenty-week Post Graduate Qualification: Explore advanced approaches to coaching. Post Graduate Certificate in Professional Practice (work-based coaching andmentoring): 1-3 years withflexible progression to Master’s. “I’m still amazed at the power of coaching conversations to generate creative solutions for problems initially thought unsolvable. When coaching is the preferred way to communicate within organisational culture, it is a big asset for contributing towards organisational performance.” Paulette Swindell, Scheme Director. CeTAD entre forExecutiveTrainingandDevelopment CoachingandMentoring: IntroductoryTraining andQualifications Flexible, part-time, distance learningforworkplacequalifications. Impact organisational culture and performance, and build your confidence to coach and mentor others to achieve their potential. Progress fromour one-day onlineworkshop in February 2021 to short courses and a full Lancaster UniversityMaster’s: Image:QaudrupleAccreditedWorldRanked Logos.
FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 3 Foreword Our world-leading academics continue to produce cutting-edge insights with their engaging research. Stop stressing out over social media By its very nature, social media ismeant to be fun. This is a hedonic technology, designed for our social pleasure and enjoyment, and yet we all knowhoweasy it can be for social media to stress us out. 6 Leading with smiles on their faces Having developed the idea of ‘Prozac Leadership’ almost a decade ago, Professor David Collinson examines how today’s leaders represent all that it encompasses. In this issue... 42 NoReturns:Why the retail sector is unlikely to return to ‘normal’ beyondCovid-19 A newWork Foundation report highlights the extent of change in the retail sector as a result of Covid-19. The mental toll of corruption Theeffects ofwidespread corruption gobeyond theeconomy andbusiness. Dr SaurabhSinghal’s research demonstrates howhigher corruption leads to lowermental health inVietnam. What shall wedowithour Eden? Mis-timed football tackles, lonely pigs and secret gardens have all been on the path that led to Sir TimSmit setting up theworld-renowned Eden Project. 46 4 Why do women still do the housework? Career women continue to take on the major share of both housework and childcare in theUK andUS. New research shows howemployers who providemore support to female staffperformbetter. 22 Covid exposes Italy’s problem withwomen While women have led the way in the Covid-19 response with notable success around the world, in Italy they have been notable by their absence. 10 Greenat home, greenatwork What can be done to encourage people to bemore sustainable in their consumption?Dr Laura Salciuviene’s new research shows howhabits from home are taken intowork, and how it is menwho aremore engagedwith the process thanwomen. 26 18 Mother knows best Attitudes towards gender equality and stereotypical gender roles have changed greatly since the 1950s. Why then, asks ProfessorMargaret KHogg, arewomen still presentedas experts of thehouseholdfirst andof anythingelse second inpopularmagazines? 38 14 Amatch made in language andfinance Professor SteveYounghasbeenworking withcomputer scientistsandexpert linguistsonan interdisciplinaryproject to developanovel app. 30 Let it grow When there is a strong family presence, boards become more wary of taking risks. 34
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Welcome once more to Fifty Four Degrees, our showcase of some of the cutting-edge, thoughtprovoking research from Lancaster University Management School. The world in which our LUMS community operates continues to be shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic, much as do the lives of us all. In this edition, Work Foundation Director Ben Harrison examines the continuously evolving effects of the pandemic on the UK’s workers, those in retail in particular. Lara Pecis’ research into the Italian government response to the initial wave of the pandemic reveals the importance of embracing all perspectives. Unlike in Italy, I am confident that our response within LUMS has achieved that, welcoming input at the highest levels from a diverse group as we plan for the present and the future. I would like to think my leadership of the School these pastfive years – and during the pandemic – has been clear and honest, and that I always deliver the truth no matter how hard it is to hear. As David Collinson discusses in his fascinating piece, this is not always the case for all of our leaders. I cannot imagine colleagues past or present would accuse me of the same ‘Prozac Leadership’ seen from President Trump! Covid has highlighted more than ever the need for good mental health, though it is not always easy to achieve that state. Monideepa Tarafdar demonstrates the dangers of social media in that regard, while Saurabh Singhal investigates the effects of corruption on our mental health through a study in Vietnam. Beyond Covid, Steve Young’s work on a programme to help make the analysis of company annual reports easier has the potential for a wide spectrum of applications, holding companies to account in a post-pandemic world. Jesse Wang demonstrates how these companies can benefit in many ways from adopting policies that treat more fairly their female employees, though Margaret Hogg’s analysis of how female workers and mothers have been portrayed in adverts over the last 70 years shows there is still some way to go in changing perceptions in that regard. The task of altering behaviour around sustainable consumption is the focus of Laura Salciuviene, and that is certainly something in which Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, would take an interest. He writes for us with an insight into his path to Eden, and with advice for businesspeople and entrepreneurs gained from decades of experience. Those tips will likely be of interest to the family businesses who are the focus of Giovanna Campopiano ‘s work investigating the role of family members on boards in shaping innovation. Fifty Four Degrees is just one of the ways in which we continue to engage our Management School with the wider community in these digi-centric times. With the support of our Corporate Guardians, NatWest, we continue to deliver our insightful Masterclass Series online. Thanks to NatWest’s backing, we are able to support the same family businesses highlighted by Giovanna, as well as organisations and individuals through this stimulating series that provokes ideas, inspires, and facilitates collaboration. If you enjoy reading about the research contained within these pages, then we hope the Masterclasses will also be of interest. Professor Angus Laing is Dean of Lancaster University Management School and Chair of the Academic Advisory Board at Nurture Higher Education Group. a.w.laing@lancaster.ac.uk Foreword Within these pages, youwill learn about some of thewideranging, impactful researchwe have been carryingout at Lancaster University Management School. FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 5 SUBSCRIBE
Having developed the idea of ‘Prozac Leadership’ almost a decade ago, Professor DavidCollinson examines how today’s leaders Boris Johnson andDonald Trump represent all that it encompasses. 6 | AVIRULENT STRAINOF PROZAC LEADERSHIP
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When distinguished American journalist Bob Woodward revealed that US President Donald Trump haddeliberately downplayedthe serious nature of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year, it answered a big question. Before that point, it was unclear if President Trump had been ignorant of the nature of the virus that was spreading around the globe, or if hewas deliberately downplaying its severity. In January, whenCovid-19 emerged in China and theWorldHealthOrganisation issued itsfirst warnings, Trump insisted it was all "ahoax." Amonth later, he said it could be treated “like theflu”. Did he genuinely believe this, or was he trying to calmpeople down? The publicity for Woodward’s book Rage , based on interviews with the 45th President, left us in no doubt. The tapes of the interviews show Trump knew what was coming, the dangers his country faced – and that he did not inform the public. He made a strategic decision to prioritise the markets, the economy, central planks of his reelection campaign. He acted as the country’s ‘cheerleader’, insisting everything was good. This is all part of a pattern of his leadership through the pandemic. Trump has also shown continued reluctance to wear amask – whether it be for fear of ‘spooking’ themarkets or to come across as a ‘strongman’, much stronger than the virus – and hasmocked those who dowear amask, including his presidential election opponent, Joe Biden . Trump’s downplaying has been very influential across America, especially with his core supporters. It has fuelledthe anti-maskmovement . We saw interviews with older people in Florida playing tennis, people playing golf in Arizona, saying ‘it’sfine, President Trump said so’. They didn’t feel they had towear masks or take precautions. By sending that message of ‘stay calm’, it had the paradoxical effect of creating a pandemic complacency. Trump’s behaviour in these instances is all part of his own brand of Prozac Leadership. This concept symbolises a widespread social addiction to excessive positivity, which leaders use to enact power, influence and identity, and which can lead to dangerous consequences: mitigating against critical reflection, silencing dissent, eroding preparedness and damaging effectiveness when emergencies such as Covid-19 arise. Prozac leaders don’t concern themselves with the detailed challenges of policy implementation. For them, the overriding focus on staying positive and being highly motivated are what counts. Excessively positive messages from the top then filter down through managerial levels and subsequently into organisational structures, cultures and practices. Ifirst developed the concept in 2012 applying it, in particular, to examine the conditions that gave rise to the Global Financial Crash a few years earlier. That was a time when Trump was hosting The Apprentice, berating contestants in his plush Trump Tower office, and Boris Johnson was Mayor of 8 | Thefinal lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that… those in authority must retain the public’s trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no-one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart. John Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story Of The Deadliest Pandemic In History. ʼʼ ʻʻ
London, most memorably pictured stuck on a zipwirewaving miniature Union Jacks. Eight years on, they lead the United States of America and the United Kingdom respectively. And while I conceptualised Prozac Leadership before their ascents, these twomen, and their actions throughout the Covid-19 crisis, encapsulate the theory. Johnson is the archetypal Prozac leader. Most people in 2012might have known himas a host or panellist on the BBCTV showHave I Got News For You, where his jovial buffoon personafitted perfectly. But as PrimeMinister, he remains forever looking on the bright side, spreading positive cheer and optimism. Covid challenged this profoundly, even beyond the strain the virus has placed on his government and his own health. Johnson, inmuch the same ‘strongman’ mentality as Trump, believed himself personally invulnerable, but after boasting about shaking the hands of Covid patients, hecontracted the virusand nearly died during a threenight stay in the Intensive Care Unit of St Thomas’ hospital. Trump’s positivity can be traced to his childhood attendance of New York’s Marble Collegiate Church, where Norman Vincent Peale preached " The Power of Positive Thinking" – a key US influence in the emergence of Prozac leadership. Although Peale's ideas have been debunked, Trump cites him as a formative influence, and in his book, the Art of the Deal, argues that "exaggerating the positive" is a "very effective form of promotion." Prozac leadership encourages leaders to believe their own narratives that everything is going well and discourage followers from raising problems or admittingmistakes. We have seen examples in the UK during the Covid-19 lockdown whenDominic Cummings made his trip to Barnard Castle and with themistakes made with the algorithm for assessing A-Level results – caused by students being unable to sit their exams. In both cases, the key governmentalfigures have not resigned, have admitted no fault, and have – in the case of A-Levels – sought to assign blame to others. Even while we have had civil servants resigning over a series of issues, those in power do not admit their mistakes, do not step down. Prozac leaders do not want to hear problems. They want solutions. Just as with Trump, George WBush defined the role of president as one of cheerleader – encouraging optimism, inspiring confidence, dispelling doubts. Theirs is the way of positive thinking, and dissenting opinions are not welcome. Peoplewho have left the Trump administration (and there aremany) often say the thing the President values more than anything is loyalty. But this is his own version of loyalty, where you don’t engage in critical discussion, you just agreewithwhat he says. Real loyalty might be to challenge him, to ask him if he has considered everything; thatmight be amore effective formof loyalty, but not in the TrumpWhiteHouse. During the pandemic, President Trump has gone against all scientific expertise by advocating hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, and suggesting the virus could be eradicated by " very bright light" and "injecting strong disinfectant into the body". Speak up against his positive rhetoric and be punished. Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was criticised for being "too negative" and "alarmist", earning him the nickname “Dr Doomand Gloom” from the White House. By suffocating alternative perspectives, leadersmake it more likely that organisations are less equipped to consider future risks, potential threats and dangers. Johnson and Trump lead countries that, prior to COVID-19, were rated by the Global Health Security Index in 2019 as the two best-prepared to deal with a pandemic. But the USA has now recordedmore than 200,000 coronavirus deaths, and the UK had, at the time of writing, the highest excess deaths in Europe. Rather than follow the science, both countries adopted excessively optimistic approaches, underestimating COVID-19, attempting to deny and dominate the virus. Prozac leadership has come at a price. Throughout the pandemic Prozac leaders have demonstrated the dangers of their attempts to redefine the narrative in excessively positiveways and of refusing to acknowledgemistakes. Other countries, such as Germany, New Zealand, Taiwan, Finland and Vietnam, have (often female) leaders who follow the science rather than treating the virus as a political issue. Their relative success demonstrates that effective leadership is not just about espousing positivity, but requires informed, critical thinking, a willingness to confront difficult realities, and the capacity to listen to alternative voices. David Collinsonis a Distinguished Professor of Leadership & Organisation in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology. Prozac Leadership and the Limits of Positive Thinkingis published in the journal Leadership. d.collinson@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 9
10 | Whilewomen have led theway in the Covid-19 responsewith notable success around theworld, in Italy they have been notable by their absence. Dr Lara Pecis examines the reasons behind their absence in response and recovery programmes in her home country. COVID EXPOSES ITALY’S PROBLEM WITH WOMEN
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Jacinda Ardern, Angela Merkel, Tsai Ing-wen, Mette Frederiksen. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, female global leaders have been hailed for their successes in steering their countries through the crisis. Media reportshave repeatedly shown that many of the countries able to limit the negative impacts of Covid-19 are led by women – such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand and Taiwan. The presence of these leaders has not been mirrored across the globe, where womenfind themselves underrepresented in key positions dealing with the pandemic. A survey by the charity CAREfound only 26 of 30 countries around the world had at least one-third female membership in national committees established to respond to the emergency. Only one had equal representation. Among the study’sfindings was that countries with more women in leadership are more likely to deliver responses that consider the effects of the coronavirus crisis on women and girls – such as gender-based violence or sexual and reproductive health services. Italy – one of thefirst and worstaffected countries in the world – was not included in the study. But during thefirst stage of the emergency, women were completely excluded from the political management of the pandemic and their voice was absent from the subsequent post-pandemic socio-economic response. No women were on the team of experts advising the government, and the only female presence in the daily civil protection briefings was the sign-language interpreter. This is despite the coronavirus sequencefirst being isolated by three Italian women scientists, despite the high number of women in key worker roles in healthcare, retail, education logistics and childcare, where they were highly involved on a daily basis in the management of the crisis, and despite their important role as family carers. Such gender inequalities are commonplace in Italian society and the labour market, and they have been highlighted by the lockdown and its effects. This is a country with one of the lowest percentages of women’s participation in the labour market in Europe. Women who do work are employed in higher numbers in jobs with lower access to remote working, with lower pay, and a higher exposure to occupational risks – all of which have proved key factors during the course of the pandemic. During the lockdown, those sectors which remained active – health and social care, essential retail, education etc – employ up to 77%women. Beyond lockdown, other femaledominated sectors of the economy, such as retail and tourism, that closed during lockdown, continue with reduced activity and will continue to be negatively affected in the postpandemic economy. Added to that, female workers are exposed to a higher risk of contagion: 12%of men and 28%of women work in occupations with a high risk of Covid-19 infection. This combined with a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) makes women more vulnerable to contagion, and 70%of women who contracted the virus did so at work. Italy started phase two of its lockdown lifting on May 4th, with an estimated 2.7 million workers returning to work on that day. An estimated 72%of those workers are men, leaving women managing home working and full-time childcare as schools and childcare remained closed. The pandemic has reduced the quality of life for women, with an increase in already high levels of housework responsibility – exacerbated due to the inability to have external help. 68%of working women with partners have dedicated more time to housework, but only 40%of men have done the same. There were similar disparities with home schooling and childcare. Without women’s voices addressing such issues in power, they are unlikely to be addressed. The exclusion of 12 | 90% women Home care workers: 70% women Nurses: 80% women Supermarket cashiers: 82% women Teachers: Source: Politico (2020) Profession employment for women in Italy
women from the national-level response to Covid-19 was seen as blocking women’s perspective and influence on decisions that affect their lives and place in work and society. It was met with political action in the form of mass mobilisation by civil society, social and political groups, including female parliamentarians, campaigning on social media with the hashtag #DateciVoce (#GiveUsVoice), demanding more women be involved in the taskforces set up to manage the national response. The two main taskforces were initially made up of 90%men, one with no women at all, and only on May 4 did Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announce that six women scientists would join the coronavirus civil protection technical-scientific committee of 20 men, who had advised government from early on in the crisis. At the same time, five women experts joined the four already part of the 17-strong task force to look at bringing the country out of the crisis. Why have the voices of competent women been marginalised? Italy is a country with a strong feminist tradition, but it has been strongly affected by its Fascist past and Catholicism, both of which envisage a woman’s duty to be procreation, placing great emphasis on their role within the traditional family. Silvio Berlusconi and more recent coalitions have reinforced women’s objectification as sexual objects or sanctification as angels or mothers. Feminist movements in Italy have renewed efforts to dismantle the representation of women as objects of desire and/or located in the home as wives and mothers, but these circumstances permeate the world of work, where there needs to be more recognition of women’s roles and value. Attitudes must move away from the traditional picture of men as the breadwinners and of women as carers. The inability to let go of the cultural legacy of Catholic and Fascist ideologies serves as an obstacle to women being employed in decisionmaking roles in politics and other organisations. Women are blocked from access to decision-making positions, and institutional and policy interventions are needed to address the lack of equal access and opportunities. Hiring and promoting at local and state government levels are based on clientelism, rather than meritocracy. It is an old boy’s club, where masculine practices discriminate against women. In order for women to have these opportunities, there has to be change beyond addressing direct discrimination. Better, more affordable public care services are needed. If women are to step beyond the home and into the world of work, structured childcare and care for elderly is required. Covid-19 has shown the problemwith relying on friends and grandparents to care for children, as they were unable tofill the gap left by school closures and a shortage of childcare when they must shield from the virus. Covid-19 has shone a light on these inequalities, and the country needs a long overdue and radical shift towards the centring of women and their contributions in work and society. There is the potential for the pandemic to help bring about a more just future for Italian women. Dr Lara Pecisis a Lecturer in Organisation Studies in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology. Missing Voices: The Absence of Women from Italy’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response was written with Dr Vincenza Priola, of the Open University Business School, and is published in Gender in Management. l.pecis@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 13 Italy56.2% EU68.3% Women’s participation in workforce: Italy27% EU: 33.9% Women in managerial positions: Italy34.8% EU14.5% Unemployment rate (women, aged 15-24): Sources: Carta (2019); Moresco (2020); Censis (2019) Italian andEU workforce comparison
14 | NORETURNS: Why the retail sector isunlikely to return to ‘normal’ beyond Covid-19 A newWork Foundation report highlights the extent of change in the retail sector as a result of Covid-19, andwhat thismeans for workers. Director BenHarrison looks at how the pandemic has exacerbated an already tough economy for the sector.
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As we enter Winter, the true depth, breadth and likely length of the Covid-19 crisis has become increasingly clear. Encouraged by the initial success of the national lockdown in reducing infection rates, and driven by an understandable desire to get ‘back to normal’ and re-start those parts of the economy that were frozen, the UK’s policy focus over the summer rapidly turned to winding down support schemes and building a recovery that supported the people and places worst affected. But an economic crisis driven by a global pandemic was unlikely to ever follow the usual pattern of downturn followed by recovery. With infection rates rising rapidly once again, strict public health measures reintroduced and a widely available vaccine still a year away at best, we remain closer to the beginning of this crisis than the end. This presents fundamental challenges to all parts of our economy and the labour markets of villages, towns and cities all across the country. In response, we have seen a series of announcements from the Government which seek to provide additional support to businesses and workers, from the newJob Support Scheme , which provides a partial subsidy to the wages of workers who are able to work afifth of their normal hours, to increased investment in employment support and trainingaimed at supporting those who lose their jobs to find new employment. But there remain real concerns that these measures will prove insufficient to stem rising unemployment in the months to come. One part of the economy particularly impacted by the pandemic is the retail sector. Despite being the largest source of private sector employment in the UK, with 2.8 million workers employed nationally at the beginning of 2020, long-term changes in demand and consumption mean that for many years retail workers have faced an increasingly insecure working life characterised by low pay, temporary contracts, irregular hours and limited opportunities for career progression. The Work Foundation’s latest research shows average pay in retail was already much lower than in other sectors prior to the pandemic, with one in three workers paid the minimumwage, meaning – on average – full-time workers in the retail sector earn approximately £135 less each week than those in other sectors. Likewise, part-time and temporary contracts are common in the sector, with 48.5%of retail employees working part-time, compared to only 26.5% across the UK, and 128,000 workers on precarious temporary contracts. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, this means many workers are likely to lack employment protections and essential pay entitlements over the coming period. 16 | ʼʼ part-time and temporary contracts are common in the sector, with48.5% of retail employees working part-time, compared to only26.5% across the UK, and128,000 workers on precarious temporary contracts. ʻʻ
We estimate that around 900,000 retail workers would not qualify for any redundancy pay if they lost their job, and approximately 400,000 retail workers will not be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay should they become unwell or need to self-isolate. When we look to the future, it is highly likely that the sector will employ significantly fewer people than it does today, in jobs that look quite different to those that have been traditionally associated with retail businesses. In part this is due to the pandemic fundamentally accelerating preexisting trends that have put so many high streets across the country under pressure in recent years – in particular, the shift to online shopping, with online purchases doubling as a proportion of total sales during the lockdown period earlier this year. With public health concerns and restrictions likely to remain for the foreseeable future, and many predicting higher levels of home working will be sustained beyond the immediate crisis, high street retailers have already begun toannounce significant jobs cutsas they seek to adapt their operating models to these new consumer behaviours and working patterns. And our research highlights that these job cuts are impacting some groups of workers disproportionately. For example, since the beginning of the crisis some 80,000 women have lost their job in the sector, reflecting the fact that women have tended to occupy lower-paid, routinised retail roles – the kinds of jobs that have been disappearing in recent years and are likely to continue to disappear in the future. While it is true that this shift to online retail will see new jobs created, other social and economic factors mean it is doubtful that those who stand to lose their roles in store will access them. New retail roles are overwhelmingly likely to be in warehousing, logistics, and delivery functions, ensuring goods ordered online reach customers, meaning they will primarily be located near to major motorway nodes. This is a far cry from customer-facing roles located close to home and which allow for the balancing of part-time employment with other family responsibilities. Although the Government’sWinter Economy Planand subsequent announcements represent significant steps forward in recognising the severity of the ongoing challenges facing businesses and workers across the country, in truth, many retailers in areas facing tier 2 or tier 3 restrictions may struggle to bring those who have been furloughed back to work for even afifth of their usual hours in order to qualify for the Job Support Scheme. This means that tens of thousands of retail workers across the country are facing the prospect of unemployment in the months ahead. Looking at the economy as a whole, there have already been substantial changes since March, with August HMRC PAYE data showing that there were already 695,000 fewer people on payroll, and insolvency service data showing that at least 498,000 redundancies have been planned. Given there remain just half of the vacancies in the economy that existed between December 2019 and February 2020, competition to re-enter the labour market is going to befierce. At this stage of the crisis it is clear that further interventions will be required to support those who lose their jobs over the Winter, as well as investment to drive the jobs creation that will be essential for recovery through 2021 and beyond. Ben Harrisonis Director of the Work Foundation. No Returns: a newdirection to tackle insecurity in retail following COVID-19 , was co-authored by The Work Foundation’s Dr Olivia Gable, Rebecca Florisson, Trinley Walker and Melanie Wilkes. b.harrison1@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 17 ʼʼ August HMRC PAYE data shows that there were already695,000fewer people on payroll, and insolvency service data shows that at least498,000 redundancies have been planned. ʻʻ
18 | STOP STRESSING OUTOVER SOCIALMEDIA
By its very nature, social media ismeant to be fun. This is a hedonic technology, designed for our social pleasure and enjoyment, and yet we all knowhoweasy it can be for social media to stress us out, says Professor Monideepa Tarafdar. FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 19
Sites such as Facebook and Instagram are known to cause ‘social media technostress’ in users. It’s easy to understand why you might experience technostress at work; you have to use IT whether you like it or not, and stress can strike through technocomplexity, where you mightfind it hard to use new innovations. Having to move systems is a prominent form of technostress and some people feel techno-insecurity, where they are scared that those with more tech skills are going to take their jobs away or will be promoted above them. Social media, on the other hand, is not hard to use, it’s very intuitive, and moving systems and tehno-insecurity are not factors. However, sites such as Facebook and Instagram are known to cause ‘social media technostress’ in users. So, why is social media stressful? The answer lies partly in the ‘social’ and partly in the ‘media’. Facebook ‘friends’ can become too friendly, invading your personal life; everyone else seems to be doing really well in life, and you feel like you don’t match up; Steve and Emma are sharing loads of pictures of their holiday and you feel you need to do the same; if you don’t comment or reply on Tom’s recent post announcing his new car, will you still be friends? Social media technostress happens in six ways: • Invasion – users feel social media has invaded their personal life • Pattern – users feel they must adapt their use to match their friends: if they post, you like • Social overload – a feeling of excessive social demands • Uncertainty – through unannounced, often sneaky, security and privacy changes • Complexity – the application is hard to navigate because there is too much going on • Disclosure – the bombardment of too much information It might seem the obvious thing to do in response would be to exit the social media platform andfind something different to do. And yet, anecdotal evidence, together with our own research study of more than 400 German Facebook users, revealed something quite different. Instead of walking away, turning off and creating a diversion with another activity far removed from the online realm, it was more common for users to dig deeper into the platform, diverting or distracting themselves from the social media that caused them stress by using the same social media even more. They would try to escape the causes of their stress without leaving the medium on which it originated. This coping strategy, counter-intuitive as it is, comes from the feature-rich nature of social media websites and apps, meaning there are lots of ways to use them. In other words, social media apps can take you into different worlds, mentally far away from one another, on the same platform. You don’t have to look at that seemingly never-ending stream of 20 | ʼʼ It’s no good just saying ‘social media stresses me out’, because pretty much all of usfind it stressful in different ways. ʻʻ
holiday photos fromNew York, the Maldives and Sydney. Instead, you can play games, catch up on news, chat with friends or look for a new TV in the marketplace. If you start losing a game, divert your attention with something more pleasant and relaxing within the same app, such as reading a book review of your favourite author. Each action is done in a different context and takes you into a diverse realms. What on the surface is a single app has many facets allowing you to divert and explore, do something different without ever leaving the platform. Because social network sites offer such a wide range of features, and we cannot predict what we will see on our feed, users canfind they act both as stressors and as a distraction from that stress. The idea of using the same environment that is causing stress as a means of coping with it is novel, an interesting phenomenon distinctive to technostress from social media. But be careful! While it might seem harmless to beflitting from one aspect to another, it can suck you into a neverending loop of social media technostress and diversion you never escape, blurring the lines between the stress caused and compulsive use. Users embed themselves deeper in the social network environment rather than getting away from it, and an addiction is formed. They are looking for a shorttermfix from the very thing causing long-term problems. Alarmingly, the results of the survey showed that the more you use social media, the more likely you are to do this. Users with a greater social media habit needed less effort tofind another aspect of the platforms, and were thus more likely to stay within rather than switch offwhen they needed diversion. The stronger the user’s social media habit, the higher the likelihood they would keep using it as a means of diversion in a coping behaviour in response to stressors, paving the way to addiction. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO TACKLE THIS ISSUE? Already, governments and law-makers are looking at ways to protect social media users from the potentially negative effects of the platforms. US lawmakers, for example, have proposed banning potentially addictive features such as infinite content feeds and autoplaying videos. But it’s easy to say developers are putting in features that make it addictive – that’s their job, they are going to make whatever will make you stay on the platform. It’s no good just saying ‘social media stresses me out’, because pretty much all of usfind it stressful in different ways. What people need to do now is say ‘what can I do about it?’. It’s time to say ‘I want to reclaimmy social media behaviour. If I want to get out, I will get out. If I don’t want to get out, I will use it in a healthy way’. Awareness is thefirst, important step. Hedonic things are about enjoyment. Nobody tells you not to go for a walk if you’re not in a good frame of mind, nobody advises you not to play football or not to read a book. That’s the irony with social media, if something is hedonic, it shouldn’t make you feel bad; it should be fun. You’re using it voluntarily, and yet look at what can happen. So the next time you’re feeling technostress from social media, it might be better to put your phone down rather than seeking refuge even deeper in your apps. Otherwise, before you know it, three hours have gone. You come out at the end of it feeling terrible; your head is full, you’ve wasted your time, you’ve seen all sorts of things and you’re completely messed up. Professor Monideepa Tarafdar is Professor of Information Systems and Co-Director of theCentre for Technological Futures . The original paper, Explaining the Link Between Technostress and Technology Addiction for Social Networking Sites: A Study of ‘Distraction’ as a Coping Behaviour, was written with Assistant Professor Christian Maier, of the University of Bamberg; Professor Sven Laumer, of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg; and Professor TimWeitzel, of the University of Bamberg. m.tarafdar@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 21 Instead of walking away, turning offand creating a diversion with another activity far removed from the online realm, it was more common for users to dig deeper into the platform, diverting or distracting themselves from the social media that caused them stress by using the same social media even more. ʻʻ ʼʼ
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Mother knows best Attitudes towards gender equality and stereotypical gender roles have changed greatly since the 1950s. Why then, asks Professor Margaret KHogg, arewomen still presented as experts of the householdfirst and of anything else second in popularmagazines? FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 23
Over the last 70 years, we would like to think that society has changed enough that women are no longer seen purely as mothers, looking after their families at home. But howmuch has thinking really changed? Are women still depicted as mothersfirst and foremost, or as the professionals they often are, with diverse skillsets and a wealth of knowledge and expertise? Working with colleagues in Australia, Scotland and Switzerland, we looked at the depiction of family, women and mothering in 1,147 advertisements published between 1950 and 2010 in Australian Women’s Weekly (AWW) – the best-selling women’s magazine in Australia – and 775 in the UK’s Good Housekeeping (GH). We wanted to see what had changed – or not – in these depictions, and how different the general picture of women in the home is now to that portrayed over the past seven decades. Despite perceived changes in society, we found these adverts continue to tell mothers to put their families front and centre. Their professional skillsets and capabilities are secondary: they are still encouraged to devote all their knowledge to protecting and caring for the family. Advertisers repeatedly position women in terms of their domestic responsibilities, such as cooking and cleaning. Women are presented with an idealised image of the ‘knowing mother’, knowledgeable consumers for the whole family, required to acquire more expertise and skills to professionalise their mothering. Advertisements for washing powder, vitamin supplements, tissues and disinfectants all place an emphasis on what mothers can, and should know. They invite readers to compare themselves with the ideal they are presented with. Attitudes appear to have shifted to share the role of caring within a family, and you can see that men’s roles are changing in advertisements, with opportunities for fathering within the home featured, though still to a far lesser extent than mothers. Despite this, there exists an enduring assumption that mothers should be responsible. It is the way they are presented with this knowledge that changed over the period, frommothers being guided by experts to possessing expertise 24 | ʼʼ As you go through the 70 years, the mother becomes more educated, more on the ball, more of an expert almost in her own right, but what is interesting is that she does not move out of the family setting. ʻʻ
themselves. Going back to the 1950s, you see mothers accepting the knowledge of mainly male experts, such as doctors, celebrities and psychologists, on how to ‘consume correctly’ and care for their children. Although they were allowed some expertise, it was that of a mother and it ‘obviously didn’t count’ – the professional expertise was more important. Decisions on which particular brands of toothpaste, vitamins or clothing they should buy are legitimised by being ‘doctor’-approved. This partly reflects society. It was a very deferential society in the 1950s, of women to men, of non-experts to experts, of working class to middle class, of workers to professionals. This underlying deference, very definitely reflected in the ads, sees woman being told what to do by the experts and entirely accepting that is the right way to do it. One 1950s advertisement for eggs fromAWW shows a happy, wholesomelooking mother standing by a farmhouse with a basket of eggs. Amale doctor points to the eggs and below him sits a block of text presenting the “medical point-of-view” of why she should feed her family eggs. As you go through the 70 years, the mother becomes more educated, more on the ball, more of an expert almost in her own right, but what is interesting is that she does not move out of the family setting. It is a gradual process, but there is a shift. From the 1980s onwards, you have professional women appearing alongside the mother. You have a working mum basically. But it is interesting that it is still the mum side that is prioritised and gets the accolades and affirmation. Readers are presented with the efficient mother who knows exactly how to manage her private (family) and professional (work) life without compromising her family, bringing her professional skills to her mothering role rather than her mothering skills appearing in the workplace. It is when you have the middle class becoming professionalised working women – working-class women have worked for a long time – that you suddenly get an interesting shift. There is a greater sense of equality between the audience and the storyteller. By 2000 and 2010, the way adverts address the audience is different; women are not being talked down to any more, it is more a case of ‘this is our expertise, but we recognise you also have expertise in your area; why don’t we put it together and see how it might help you in your role as a mother?’ The tone changes, as does the way the audience is addressed. Mothers negotiate their way around complex scientific facts, sifting through claims about subjects such as genetically modified foods. Mothers need to know enough to be able to ask questions about climate change, cognitive development andGMO food, to knowhow to consume and protect their children. But the mother of the 21st century is still in the family home according to these advertisements, which continue to reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. The advertisements show women using their knowledge predominately to consume well on behalf of their children, thus fulfilling their primary maternal role. The domestic not the professional sphere continues to drive a woman’s knowledge within these depictions, she is still regarded as a ‘knowing mother’, an expert mother. A big questionmany people will ask is ‘howmuch change has there been in society?’ I think in a university we live in a very privileged part of the world, and it is very easy to take that lens and assume everybody else has that privilege. I don’t think it works that way at all; I suspect there aremany communities that remain very patriarchal. Women remain caught in that maternal and patriarchal hegemony. It is still the mothering role that counts. Although they have increased expertise and understanding, the advertisements show it is still particularly important within that mothering role. Within these advertisements, women do not rise above that role and it remains themain priority inmany women’s lives. The representation of the knowing mother is presented as what mothers should aspire to, and this is an enduring vision across seven decades and two continents. It is the knowing mother, not the knowing woman, that remains the lynchpin. Margaret K. Hoggis Professor of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing The original articleThe ‘Knowing Mother’: ‘Maternal’ knowledge and the reinforcement of the feminine consuming subject inmagazine advertising , was written with Teresa Davis (University of Sydney Business School); David Marshall (University of Edinburgh Business School); Alan Petersen (Monash University Faculty of Arts); and Tanja Schneider (St Gallen University), and was published in the Journal of Consumer Culture. m.hogg@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 25
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GREEN ATHOME, GREEN ATWORK FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 27 What can be done to encourage people to bemore sustainable in their consumption? Dr Laura Salciuviene’s new research shows howhabits fromhome are taken intowork, and how it ismenwho aremore engaged with the process thanwomen.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that followed put a stop to consumption as we knew it. Across the globe, shops physically shut, supply chains were disrupted and consumers increasingly began to rely on online orders. Without everyday distractions, large numbers of us also reconnected with nature on our daily permitted walks. Life became quite simple. So, has this made us all more environmentallyconscious shoppers? Many big businesses like Apple seem to think so, and it was not long ago that Unilevercommitted £1bn to eradicating fossil fuels from its products. Post Covid-19, many consumers will be far more savvy. They will expect more from their products and trusted brands. But how do you engage customers with the bigger, greener picture? A lot of attention is being directed towards customers becoming more sustainable in the marketplace – but what we have come to expect and ‘consume’ in the home and at work has been largely ignored; until now. In our latest research, conducted jointly with Kaunas University of Technology and funded by the Research Council of Lithuania, we wanted to discover which factors affect sustainable consumption behaviour in the workplace and home environments. Ourfindings suggest that consumers like to feel good about contributing to a more sustainable environment. We found that moral identity is an important factor for triggering sustainable consumption behaviour – which sets it apart fromearlier studies. We also found that to consume anything sustainably, we have to be ‘engaged’ with the bigger sustainability picture. Our study comprised a questionnaire and data from585 respondents collected across Lithuania and theUnited Kingdom, and encompassed single, cohabiting andmarried respondents, both with andwithout children. The novelfindings suggest that working consumers who value such internal qualities as fairness, honesty and carefulness have a strongermoral identity. Peoplewith those characteristics demonstrate higher engagement in sustainable consumption in theworkplace and home environment. Engagement is key. Our study suggests that the more engaged in sustainable consumption a working consumer is, the stronger their sustainable consumption behaviour. Such consumer engagement in sustainable consumption is evident throughfive specific components: enthusiasm, attention, identification, absorption and interaction. Ourfindings suggest enthusiasm and attention stand out as being particularly important. Enthusiasm denotes a strong willingness to partake in sustainable consumption-related decisions, while attention demonstrates a high awareness of and strong concentration on sustainable consumption-related activities. Absorption, identification and interaction, although still important, have less influence on respondents’ decisions regarding sustainable consumption. Thesefindings tell us that consumers with a stronger moral identity would be more enthusiastic about consuming sustainably because they would feel that they could contribute positively to the environment with their habits. They feel pleasure and enjoyment when consuming responsibly and are willing to spend time considering the damage to the environment caused through unnecessary consumption. These 28 |
FIFTY FOURDEGREES | 29 consumers believe strongly that their lives would be very different if they could no longer contribute to the preservation of the environment with environmentally friendly activities in their everyday lives. For example, when they shop, they tend to choose environmentally friendly products, those packaged in recyclable and recycled materials. They will search for those, such as soap and pens, that come in refillable packaging; and they tend to use fresh food rather than frozen. Our research results also suggest that consumers with a stronger moral identity purchase less overall, cautious that their purchases might lead to an accumulation of things they do not really need. Our respondents show the importance of the disposal stage of sustainable consumption in their behaviour, as they are very careful as to howandwhere they dispose of the products they use in their households. Many of themtend to take goods they no longer need to charity shops or second-hand shops, andwith their responsible actions they contribute to the circular economy of their products beyond the acquisition stage. Beyond these actions in their home life, our research shows it is likely that such actions will spill-over to sustainable consumption behaviour in the workplace. There, as at home, meals are prepared using fresh rather than frozen food, but there are wider influences as well. These respondents tend to avoid using one-offdishes and cutlery when at work, they use paper bags instead of plastic ones, a real towel instead of one-offtowels, where it is possible to make such decisions. They attempt to preserve water in their workplace, put recyclable waste in recycle bins and switch offtheir computers when leaving their offices for a considerable period of time, aiming to reduce electricity consumption. Thesefindings show that significant improvements on sustainable consumption behaviour in theworkplace can bemade through improving sustainable consumption behaviour at homewhenmoral identity is present. Beyond thesefindings were others, more unexpected. Contrary to earlier studies, our research showed that men are actually more engaged with sustainable consumption than women. Men tend to dedicate more time to sustainable consumption, are more interested in opinions of others on sustainability issues, and are more prepared to take immediate action regarding their own sustainable consumption. This could be explained by men having more spare time to dedicate to such activities. Our research suggests policy makers’ attention should be directed towards women when it comes to increasing sustainable consumption both in the home and in the workplace. Any offerings that are presented as timesavers will grab female attention, and marketing products that tap into qualities such as fairness, honesty, compassion and helpfulness are proven to help trigger females’ moral identity and drive them to action. Making women feel good about themselves morally by better raising awareness about how they can contribute to the good cause, while saving some of their precious time, are just some steps that can be taken to change our sustainable consumption habits for the better. Dr Laura Salciuvieneis a Research Fellow in the Department of Marketing. l.salciuviene@lancaster.ac.uk
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