Older Restaurant Managers 'More Risk Averse', Study Finds
UFSC study shows prolonged tenure leads managers to favour conservative actions.
Tempo previsto
16/4/2025
Pandemic poses novel challenges to journalism, accelerating digitization and expanding remote workflows.
The digital transformation process has imposed itself on newsrooms with greater force since the beginning of the pandemic. Managers face business changes alongside the challenge of reporting on a unique political and health period.
Platformization as a business strategy, replacing the old pipeline, had been implemented, albeit under different names, since the creation of news websites for newspapers and broadcasters. Publishers understood relatively quickly that popular digital networks had, from a business perspective, a parasitic behavior, and that it wouldn't be possible to distribute content through them. Moreover, advertising budgets shifted dramatically, to the detriment of traditional publications. This led to a significant change in the way content was offered.
When Covid-19 arrived in early 2020, the variables of journalistic practice oscillated violently. From then on, in addition to the need to convert audiences into subscribers, there was a call for resilience in the core values of reporting. Maxims like "a reporter's place is on the street", which had been losing strength, completely collapsed. The challenge became maintaining the business, delivering coverage with periodicity, continuity, and aesthetics consistent with the broadcaster's standards, with practically everything done from journalists' home offices.
In an interview with Orbis Media Review, Luciana Marangoni, the editorial director of the RPC group in Paraná, says that "it is certainly the most challenging coverage in journalism since the invention of television". The rich discussions between editors and reporters amidst the newsroom cubicles no longer happen. In fact, the facilities are isolated, and teams are divided by color, with physical contact restricted to the bare minimum, and shift changes marked by the sanitization of surfaces and equipment.
In digital life, multi-faceted coexistence contracts are established, or, more recently, "fields of coexistence" are discussed. The idea involves the permeability of relationships. "We have already told very sensitive stories, such as the collapse of a building in Guaratuba, or the landslides and floods in Antonina and Morretes. But Covid-19 has to do with our families, with risks to everyone's health", notes Luciana. Before, the journalist's profession could well be left outside the home, but not now.
The editor-in-chief of the newspaper and the Bem Paraná portal, Josianne Ritz, misses the buzz of the newsroom. "I'm well adapted. What was bad in the beginning isn't anymore. I feel safe. And so, I didn't set up a special space, to maintain the buzz. I stay in the living room, with everyone".
In the publications edited by Josianne, production has increased since the isolation measures, a result that is also a consequence, for her, of the staff's long tenure. "I feared that the print closing process, because of the layout, could be complicated [by online work]. But we are closing even earlier. The rapport is somewhat atypical because we have worked together for a long time. The majority [have been here] for more than 20 years," she notes.
G1 Paraná was the first extension of TV Globo's portal to an affiliate. In February, it celebrated its tenth anniversary, with the milestone of over one billion pageviews. Executive editor Bibiana Dionísio, who has been there since the first day of operation, set up an office in her living room. "I understood that life goes on, that it's necessary to take care of nutrition, exercise, and mental health. This is the reality of the world now, and what can I do? Take care of my family, work, of course, but I enrolled in a communication and marketing course at USP, to learn new things".
According to Bibiana, the need for news grew because of the plague, but also because G1 gained relevance and prominence. "Every day we do the exercise of choosing priorities. Is this news better than that one? When we decide on topics that escape the tragedy, we have a good response from the audience. It's a way to contribute to other aspects of people's lives".
When the pandemic started, Bibiana's baby, Luísa, was one year and three months old. "Strength comes sporadically. There are weeks when it's possible to maintain a satisfactory pace, when things flow more easily. But there are also moments of physical and emotional exhaustion". Luísa requires a list of specialized therapies, such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, "and this is experienced alongside work, family issues, life's issues, which haven't ceased to exist".
In a year of extreme measures, there hasn't been a single infection originating from RPC's headquarters.
Far from being simple or easy, resilience in the practice of journalism during the pandemic has become a form of survival.
Leia insights sobre a interação de humanos com modelos de linguagem de IA, e sobre os ODS no Brasil. Lab Educação 2050 Ltda, que mantém este site, é signatária do Pacto Global das Nações Unidas.
Newsrooms innovate remotely, ensuring news output.
New platforms drive job security and opportunities.
UFSC study shows prolonged tenure leads managers to favour conservative actions.
A recent study published in the *Revista Turismo, Visão e Ação* (RTVA) reveals that older managers with longer tenures in restaurants tend to be more risk-averse in their corporate decisions. The research, conducted by researchers at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), analyzed data from over 2,000 restaurants in Europe between 2014 and 2016.
The study, titled "Influence of Management Team Characteristics on Risk Decision-Making: Evidence from the Restaurant Sector," utilized the Amadeus database and employed the least squares method to analyze the relationship between manager characteristics – age, tenure, gender, and team size – and the companies' level of financial leverage, used as a risk-taking indicator.
The results showed a significant negative correlation between the age and tenure of managers and their propensity for risk. Older managers and those who had held the same position for a longer period demonstrated a preference for more conservative decisions, opting to maintain the status quo rather than adopting innovative or risky strategies.
Contrary to some expectations, the study found no significant relationship between the size of the management team or female participation and risk-taking. Although previous research has suggested a possible influence of these factors, the data analyzed did not confirm this hypothesis in the specific context of the restaurant industry.
The authors suggest that the risk aversion demonstrated by more experienced managers may be related to the prioritization of stability and the reputation built throughout their careers. Familiarity with the sector and a concern to preserve accumulated gains may lead them to avoid decisions that represent potential threats to the business.
The study's findings have significant implications for restaurant management. The research suggests that the composition of the management team can directly influence the strategy and performance of companies. Restaurants with younger managers may be more willing to innovate and take risks, while those led by more experienced managers may prioritize stability and financial security.
The researchers highlight the need for further studies to deepen the understanding of the relationship between manager characteristics and decision-making in restaurants. Investigating psychological factors, such as individual risk tolerance, and analyzing data from a longer period could enrich the discussion and provide more precise insights for the sector.
Lack of updates and context erodes reader trust.
A journalistic suite is the continuation of a news story in new articles that update previous ones. Something like: "Two people were injured in an accident"; then, "Men injured in accident undergo surgery"; further, "Men injured in accident discharged from hospital"; and finally, "Company responsible for accident involving injuries fined." All these sensational headlines relate to the same original event.
Not every type of news warrants a continuation. Some events and accomplishments have the momentum for a single appearance. However, to appear once or several times in the newspaper, the "thing" must truly be news, which basically means it's not advertising or propaganda – but that's a topic for another time.
In terms of format, a suite is no different from a new news story. After all, a continuation only exists when a new fact is revealed. But it's in style, from what I've observed, that the "marmita das suítes azedou" – meaning why they've lost momentum in recent years. ("Marmita das suítes azedou" is an idiom meaning roughly that the suites have gone stale or lost their appeal).
Let's take a police investigation as an example. Journalism of both good and poor quality is interested in criminal stories. However, in both types of quality, a flavor of vice remains, perhaps originating from the pleasure of "scooping" (when a journalist is the first to report something). It's a haste that hinders more than it helps: not infrequently, versions are presented that collaborate with a story one wants to tell, which may have nothing to do with what actually happened.
In the case of Armed man threatens Black youth in São Paulo, and police officer refuses to act because she's 'off-duty'; watch video (sense-based translation), for example. This is a story that quickly captured the attention of journalists and the public because a video proves not only the omission of a police officer but also her aggression against a young man. Here, whether the police officer was right or wrong is not under discussion. At the same time, due to the lack of suites, the broader context of the three-minute video was missing.
A story told because of its intriguing nature can yield minutes of viewership and an increase in website visitors. However, without continuity, it's shooting oneself in the foot. In 2023, the Reuters Institute's Digital News Report identified that Brazilians' trust in journalism is 43%, a decrease of 19 percentage points since 2015. Statistically, the downward trend may reach 41% in 2024. In this scenario, all resources of intelligence and integrity are welcome to improve these numbers.
Suites are an opportunity to assure the public that editorial choices represent, even if against the majority view, the vehicle's commitment to a story told from beginning to end, with all its nuances. For this, the editorial line as a whole, and even more so the reporters and editors, must approach investigative activity with the detachment of recounting things as they are, and not as they should be.
