Knowing that the number of older long-term unemployed increases, research is needed to get insight into the relationships between work motivation, job search behavior and re-employment success among the older unemployed. Previous studies indicated that work motivation and job search behavior can contribute to reemployment.
DOCUMENT
This qualitative study aims to explore the valuable functionings—things that people consider to be important—of theolder long-term unemployed and their ability to achieve valued outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were conductedwith 20 long-term unemployed people aged 45 and over. Participants were included through purposeful sampling. Thetheoretical frameworks of the latent deprivation theory and the capability approach were used to develop an interpretiveanalysis. Nine valuable functionings were identified: social contact, feeling appreciated, structure, feeling useful, meaningfulness,autonomy, financial resources, paid work, and being active. These valuable functionings were partly accessiblethrough the activities that people performed, varying from physically active and physically passive activities to informalwork. The functionings of meaningfulness, autonomy, financial resources, and paid work seemed to be difficult to achieve. We identified three groups. The first consisted of people whose work status changed when they entered the benefit system; for them paid work was still a valuable functioning, and they experienced the most difficulties in achieving valued outcomes. The second group also experienced a change in work status once they started to receive benefits, but those people adapted to their new situation by attributing greater value to other functionings. The third group had no change in work status, e.g., housewives who had applied for a benefit because they were not able to make ends meet after a divorce. This group did not experience a loss of functionings due to unemployment, nor did they try to achieve other functionings. The results of this study indicate a need for a more personalized, tailor-made approach, with an emphasis on an individual’s valued outcomes instead of on rules and obligations.
DOCUMENT
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.
DOCUMENT
