Three recent studies by DePaul University business professors answer essential questions about work-life conflict, bilingual advertising strategies and the origins of social entrepreneurship discovery:

Work-Life Conflict Tied to Behaviors Required For Certain Jobs

Which occupations lead to the most work-life conflict? The key to determining this is to examine behaviors required to perform a given job, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology co-authored by Erich C. Dierdorff, assistant professor of management at DePaul.

More work-life conflict is associated with work roles that require substantial interactions with others in the workplace, and/or increased responsibility for the work quality, output, health and safety of co-workers, Dierdorff found. For example, the authors observed that “high levels of interaction at work may lead to increased fatigue and depletion of personal resources needed to fulfill family role obligations.” 

The research examined people in 126 occupations and revealed that police officers, firefighters and family/general practice physicians were ranked among occupations with the highest levels of work-life conflict, while taxi drivers, insurance adjusters and bank tellers are among those with the least. The findings held even after controlling for other factors known to create conflict, including demographics, schedule flexibility, time pressure, workload and support offered by coworkers.

Dierdorff suggests that organizations use the study’s results to tailor new employee orientation, training and support services to address work-life stress generated by the nature of work roles.   (Dierdorff may be reached for media interviews at (312) 362-8495 or edierdor@depaul.edu)

Language Important in Advertising to Bilingual Consumers

Does it matter whether Kellogg targets bilingual Hispanic consumers by advertising Corn Flakes in English or Spanish?  It’s a question of increasing importance to the cereal maker and other producers of consumer goods because Hispanics have become the fastest growing ethnic consumer segment in America. 

Coauthored by DePaul Assistant Professor of Marketing Jaime Noriega, a study published in the Journal of Marketing found that the language choice does matter. Depending on the product and context, Spanish may be more effective than English for pitching Hispanic bilingual customers because they may associate certain products more strongly with their native language than with English.

“The underlying issue is whether advertisers can use the language of execution as a strategic variable with which to generate certain types of associations that may facilitate persuasion,” wrote Noriega in the study. The study concludes that “native language may be more likely to elicit self-referent thoughts about family, friends, home or homeland, which in turn may lead to more positive attitude measures and behavioral intentions” toward the product being advertised, but only within certain consumption contexts. (Noriega may be reached for media interviews at (312) 362-7242 or jnoriega@depaul.edu)

Study Provides Model of Social Entrepreneurial Venture Emergence

Social entrepreneurship – entrepreneurship that does good and makes a profit – is growing, but how do these ventures emerge?  Very little research has focused on this question, and there is a commensurate lack of understanding in the business community about how and why these important ventures do what they do.  DePaul Assistant Professor of Management Patrick J. Murphy explores the seeds of the phenomenon in a study he co-authored that will appear in the Journal of Business Ethics.

Mobilization – “the large-scale voluntary public support of a social purpose or cause” – and timing are two basic mechanisms that bring “social, economic and environmental into convergence,” leading to social entrepreneurial discovery, according to a model drawing from the “triple-bottom line” that Murphy and his fellow researchers developed.  The model is a simple framework for exploring challenging questions such as: does being from an underserved community, and knowing its needs very personally, make one more alert to social venture opportunities but less able to manage and lead such a venture purely objectively? 

“We hope the study is a prelude to a growing body of distinct theory and research that explains the emergence and existence of social entrepreneurial opportunities,” the researchers conclude. (Murphy may be reached for media interviews at (312) 362-8487 or pmurph12@depaul.edu)