This study explores the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and the computer-use profile of 1241 school students in Flanders, the northern region of Belgium. More specifically, the article examines whether varying patterns of computer access, attitudes, competencies and uses can be seen as constituting differences in cultural capital. Additionally, gender was included in the survey as an important background characteristic in digital divide research. Path analysis was used to model the complex relationships between the influencing factors upon the ICT-related variables. What emerged from the analyses was that SES affects the computer-use profile only moderately. No relationship between SES and computer ownership was found. Moreover, the acquisition of ICT competencies can no longer be attributed to computer ownership. Apart from a small effect on ICT use (a higher SES tends to be associated with more ICT use), SES does not seem to affect the computer-use profile of young people in Flanders.

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived gender differences in pay and promotion of bank managers in Nigeria, and how these differences affect job overall satisfaction of male and female bank managers in selected banks in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach – The population for this study comprised bank managers who were members of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. A total of 800 questionnaires were sent to potential respondents chosen from 50 banks. A total of 512 usable questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 64 percent.

Findings – Results of this study indicate that a salary differential does exist between male and female bank managers in Nigeria. Male managers were more satisfied with their salary than their female colleagues. Results also indicated that there were gender differences in promotion. Male managers were overall more satisfied with their company promotion policies than their female counterparts.

Research limitations/implications – This research is limited to the banking industry. Thus, the results cannot be generalized to other industrial sectors of the economy. This study needs to be replicated in other organizations using the same method.

Practical implications – The study offers practical suggestions to the banking industry and human resources managers on how to recruit, pay, promote and retain women managers as well as to maintain gender equity in the industry.

Originality/value – The study examines gender related issues in a developing economy this is under-researched area. It offers recommendations on how to provide opportunities for women to excel in the banking industry in a developing economy.

This study extends current work by investigating the role social networking sites play in facilitating emotional expressions following the death of a public figure, Michael Jackson. Through the lens of Media System Dependency theory, I perform a qualitative content analysis on comments generated by users of YouTube. Results show that YouTube plays an important role in facilitating emotional expressions as the analysis uncovered a variety of emotions (i.e. sadness and grief, anger and frustration). I also identify other possible micro-level and macro-level effects which may have influenced these emotional responses. This study also found that emotional expressions differed between gender with respect to the passage of time, ongoing events in the environment, and negative reports about Jackson. The results indicate that users can depend on the content provided by YouTube to meet their emotional needs during the grieving process following the death of a public figure.