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Content analysis is used to evaluate portrayals of women and men in United States magazine advertisements over a 50-year period, 1950 through 2000. We examine 7,912 portrayals of people in 3,212 advertisements from the time period and analyze changes in those advertisements relative to transitions in feminism and cultural trends. Magazines from representative categories provided the sample data. Over the period studied, magazine advertising showed a trend toward objective role portrayals of women fairly equal to men. This trend perhaps resulted from feminist's positioning women in the public as well as the private sphere. Women were still subordinated to men in more subtle aspects of advertisements, measured by Goffman's (1979) cultural positioning framework. Sexual exploitation of both sexes was noticed.

With the use of a hierarchy-of-effects model, the decision to complete a mail survey was modeled as a process moving through several stages. A set of variables thought to influence the survey-completion decision process was examined. These variables include survey design factors, which were manipulated by the researchers, and respondent factors, such as attitudinal and personal constructs. Based on the research findings, the hierarchy-of-effects model is an appropriate way to model the mail-survey-response process. The data indicate that among the survey design factors included in the study, the monetary incentive had the most effect on the decision process, with a pervasive impact throughout the process. Importantly, respondent factors such as attitude toward research were of critical importance in moving respondents through the survey-response process. Research into the response-rate phenomenon is likely to benefit by considering how both survey design and respondent factors affect specific stages of the response process and enhance participation in surveys. ᭧

Using survey methodology we examined the relationships between commitment to moral selfimprovement (CMSI), religiosity, ethical problem recognition, and behavioral intentions in a sample of 242 business students. Results of the study suggest that CMSI predicts ethical problem recognition and behavioral intentions. Our findings also suggest that CMSI is positively related to religiosity. The study provides some evidence of CMSI being a mediator in the influence of religiosity on ethical problem recognition and behavioral intentions. Compared to religiosity, CMSI turned out to be a better predictor of perceived importance of ethics, ethical problem recognition, and ethical behavioral intentions. The results of the study have implications for increasing understanding of ethical decision-making, future studies of business ethics, and business ethics education.

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