Treading new ground in household sector innovation research: Scope,emergence, business implications,and diffusion

Individual consumers in the household sector increasingly develop products, services and processes, in their discretionary time without payment. Household sector innovation is becoming a pervasive phenomenon, representing a significant share of the innovation activity in any economy. Such innovation emerges from personal needs or self-rewards, and is distinct from and complementary to producer innovations motivated by commercial gains. In this introductory paper to the special issue on household sector innovation, we take stock of emerging research on the topic. We categorize the research into four areas: scope, emergence, implications for business, and diffusion. We develop a conceptual basis for the phenomenon, introduce the articles in the special issue, and show how each article contributes new insights. We end by offering a research agenda for scholars interested in the salient phenomenon of household sector innovation.     

Where did I come from? US parents' and preschool children's participation in sexual socialisation

This paper applies a sociology of childhood approach to the study of the sexual socialisation of young children in the USA. It examines both children's and parents' active participation in this dynamic and collaborative process through conversations between 49 parents and their 54 preschool children that were audio-recorded while they read books about ‘where babies come from’. Parents also participated in a brief survey. The authors found that, while parents do foreclose such conversations as previous research has indicated, they also use a variety of other tactics, including adding information and emotion management. These findings illustrate children's active engagement in their own sexual socialisation through their questions, confusions and distractions, which affected the amount and type of information that was elicited.     

A note on glass and silica in oil paintings from the 15th to the 17th century

This articles reports new discoveries relating to ground glass and silica in European easel paintings from the 15th to the 17th centuries that were created by various German, Italian and Netherlandish artists. The earliest known additions of these extenders date to the early 1430s. Glass powder of varying fineness, prepared from vessel or window cullet, is often found in red lake glazes as well as in other colours or preparatory layers of paintings. SEM/EDX analyses of the glass particles reveal a variety of chemical compositions (soda ash, wood ash, wood ash-lime, wood ash-lead, mixed alkali), which are discussed with respect to the provenance of the paintings. Historical sources on painting techniques mention glass additions most frequently to accelerate drying of oil paints, but also occasionally to facilitate grinding of pigments. Another possible function of powdered glass and silica, especially in oil-bound red lake glazes, is that of a transparent filler, as will be here discussed based on paint trials.     

Attitudes towards being assessed in group work: The effects of self-efficacy and collective efficacy moderated by a short educational intervention

Being assessed in group work is a balance between cooperation and competition. Self-efficacy and collective efficacy are important concepts in understanding how group work progresses and what attitudes assessment evokes. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of a short educational intervention on the association between efficacy beliefs and attitudes towards being assessed in group work. In a randomized, controlled study of 22 pupil work groups, half of them got a short educational intervention. The work groups were formed for this study. The pupils answered a questionnaire before the intervention and after doing group work for 3 to 6 weeks with a study-specific task. A moderated mediation analysis showed that attitudes towards being assessed in group work significantly are related to self-efficacy mediated through perceived collective efficacy and that this relationship is stronger in the intervention group. In the context of work group assessment, we have shown that self-efficacy and collective efficacy are two separate, but related concepts that are dependent on each other when it comes to pupil attitudes towards group work assessment, and that a relatively short educational intervention to teachers and pupils had an effect on the attitude. However, the older girls' attitude towards group work assessment was the least positive of all, which may indicate that the intervention depends on gender and age.