This research was conducted to update the content of the International Business Studies curriculum. The dynamically developing business environment, including the shift towards hybrid work, deepened the widely reported misalignment between business communication instruction and industry requirements. Thus, we resolved to discover what this misalignment entails and will present the employers’ unmet needs concerning recent graduates’ communication skills.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Loneliness is prevalent among older adults and known to be detrimental to mental health. The objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Chinese 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) in the older native and diasporic Chinese community. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants were recruited from a local community in urban Tianjin, China and urban Chinese communities of older adults in the Netherlands. Scale properties, including reliability, were calculated with Cronbach's alpha and multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis to examine the two-dimensional structure of the scale and the cross-cultural equivalence between both countries. Item response analysis was employed to plot the relationships between the item response and expected total scale score. RESULTS: A total of 193 older adults from China and 135 older adults from the Netherlands were included. The Cronbach's alphas were and 0.68 (China) and 0.71 (the Netherlands). The DJGLS's two-dimensional structure was validated by the goodness of fit and the factor loadings. Cross-cultural equivalence was demonstrated with the multiple-group confirmatory analysis. In addition, sufficient discriminative power of the individual items was demonstrated by item response analysis in both countries. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This study is the first to provide a detailed item behavior analysis with an item response analysis of the DJGLS. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that the DJGLS has adequate and similar item and scalar equivalence for use in Chinese populations.;BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVESLoneliness is prevalent among older adults and known to be detrimental to mental health. The objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Chinese 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) in the older native and diasporic Chinese community. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSParticipants were recruited from a local community in urban Tianjin, China and urban Chinese communities of older adults in the Netherlands. Scale properties, including reliability, were calculated with Cronbach's alpha and multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis to examine the two-dimensional structure of the scale and the cross-cultural equivalence between both countries. Item response analysis was employed to plot the relationships between the item response and expected total scale score. RESULTSA total of 193 older adults from China and 135 older adults from the Netherlands were included. The Cronbach's alphas were and 0.68 (China) and 0.71 (the Netherlands). The DJGLS's two-dimensional structure was validated by the goodness of fit and the factor loadings. Cross-cultural equivalence was demonstrated with the multiple-group confirmatory analysis. In addition, sufficient discriminative power of the individual items was demonstrated by item response analysis in both countries. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONSThis study is the first to provide a detailed item behavior analysis with an item response analysis of the DJGLS. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that the DJGLS has adequate and similar item and scalar equivalence for use in Chinese populations.;
The purpose of the research we undertook for this Conference Paper was to investigate whether marketing campaigns for specific types of drinks could be directed towards age cohorts rather than towards intercultural differences between countries. We developed consumer profiles based on drinking motives and drinking behavior by age cohorts. We hypothesized that differences between countries in the youngest age groups are smaller than in the older age groups, where country specific tradition and culture still plays a more prominent role. We, therefore tested, from the data obtained by the COnsumer BEhaviouR Erasmus Network (COBEREN), the hypothesis that the extent to which the age specific profiles differ between countries increases with age. The results confirm our hypothesis that the extent to which drinking motives differ between countries increases with age. Our results suggest that marketing campaigns which are directed towards drinking motives, could best be tailored by age cohort, in particular when it concerns age group 18-37 and more particular for beer, spirits and especially premix drinks. Marketing campaigns for non-alcoholic beverages should be made specific for the British countries and the Western countries, but even more effectively be made specific for the age cohort 18-37.
