Exporting an Inherently Harmful Product: The Marketing of Virginia Slims Cigarettes in the United States,Japan, and Korea

In recent years, and in close connection with a number of well-known financial malpractice cases, public debate on business ethics has intensified worldwide, and particularly in ethics-unfriendly environments, such as Spain, with many recent fraud and corruption scandals. In the context of growing consensus on the need of balancing social prosperity and business profits, concern is increasing for introducing business (and particularly accounting) ethics in higher education curricula. The purpose is to improve ethical behaviour of future business people, and of accounting professionals in particular. In this study, from a sample of 551 business students at a Spanish university, the importance of accounting ethics is investigated. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we attempt to examine students’ overall perceptions of business ethics in unfriendly environments and, specifically, their views on the importance and goals of accounting ethics education. Second, we intend to investigate whether potential differences in such perceptions depend on previous business ethics courses taken, gender, and age of students. Our results show that those students who have previously taken an ethics course are especially prone to considering that accounting education should include ethical considerations, and show greater interest in further introducing this subject in their curricula. These facts should encourage universities offering business degrees in ethics-unfriendly environments to extend the implementation of ethics courses in their curricula. Besides, significant differences in students’ perceptions on the importance of accounting ethics are found depending on their gender and age. In line with previous research findings, female and older students show more ethical inclinations than, respectively, male and younger students. Thus, ethics-unfriendly environments can be treated as contexts where general trends on students’ ethical attitudes are also clearly visible. This fact, together with the evidenced impact of ethics courses on students’ ethical inclinations, places ethics-unfriendly environments as crucial research settings for further inquiring into the nuances that help explain students’ attitudes towards accounting ethics and the role of ethics courses in business degree curricula.     

Teaching International Business via Social Media Projects

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcomes of an experiential learning technique coupled with social media in an international marketing course. It was conducted among 155 students placed in groups that were assigned to develop a YouTube video for use as a country branding marketing tool. Measured evaluations of the students’ perceptions of the experience reveal that it was both beneficial and positive, and it helped to promote an understanding of the importance of teamwork and the uses of technology. Factor analysis grouped the perceptions and attitudes regarding the exercise into four categories.The differences in perception are evaluated based on gender, country of study, and level of education. The study highlights the importance of incorporating experiential learning pedagogies with social media to teach country branding.     

Factors involved in the learning of consumer studies

This study explored links between students’ psychological traits and their expressed preferences for learning approaches, and performance, on a consumer studies degree course. Measures to assess field independence, convergence–divergence and Perry position (a developmental classification based on students’ attitudes to knowledge and learning), and students’ preferences with regard to directed, group, project and practical learning approaches, were administered to 60 final‐year and 56 first‐year students on a consumer studies degree course. Perry position and a preference for a project learning approach were found to correlate most highly with overall performance. Field independence and convergence–divergence did not correlate at statistically significant levels with any element of final degree performance. As students proceeded through the course, they developed an enhanced view of a project learning approach and a diminished view of a group learning approach. On the basis of these findings, a number of recommendations for the teaching and learning consumer studies are put forward.     

Parent universities and the location of academic startups

Academic startups are thought to locate in their parent university’s home region because being in the vicinity of a university provides cost advantages in accessing academic knowledge and resources. In this paper we analyze the importance of a different mechanism, namely, social ties between academic entrepreneurs and university researchers, for enabling and facilitating the access to academic knowledge and resources, and therefore for the location of academic startups. We employ unique data on academic startups from regions with more than one university and find that only the parent university influences academic entrepreneurs’ decisions to stay in the region while other universities in the same region play no role. Our findings suggest that the mere local availability of a university may not per se guarantee access to knowledge and resources; social ties are additionally required. The importance of social ties implies that academic knowledge and resources are not necessarily local public good. This holds implications for universities’ role in stimulating regional development.     

Social media and sustainable purchasing attitude: Role of trust in social media and environmental effectiveness

The role of social media in promoting sustainable attitudes is currently understudied. Underpinned by social learning theory, this study unveils the effect of social media usage and browsing on sustainable purchasing attitude, the underlying mechanism, and the boundary condition. Drawing on a sample of 693 experienced respondents analyzed using structural equation modeling, this study reveals that social media usage and browsing have a significant positive association. Both constructs significantly impact sustainable purchasing attitudes with complementary partial mediation of the drive for environmental responsibility. Further, trust in social media and perceived environmental effectiveness significantly moderate the relationships belongs to the browsing and drive for environmental responsibility. Contrary to the theorization, moderating constructs cannot substantially impact the proposed associations of social media usage. In this manner, the present research is innovative and provides valued knowledge to comprehend social media's role in encouraging sustainable attitudes.     

教学管理平台建设及学分制改革分析

目前,我国大部分高校都已经开始实行基于学分制实践的选课制度,这一管理模式利用的是以人为本的教学思想和教育理念,在很大程度上将学生的自主学习以及自由学习变成了现实。从实践看,学分制管理模式还存在一些问题和不足,主要表现是学生不能够很好地自我管理,盲目跟从,学校缺乏对学生进行有效地指导等。高校必须加强教学管理平台的建设,建立较完善的选课制度,重视学生的学习自主性,同时努力提高任课老师的总体师资力量,提升教育教学水平,这样才能够使基于学分制实践的选课制度更好地为学生服务,培养出综合素质更高,专业素质优良的学生。     

Effect of Business Education on Women and Men Students’ Attitudes on Corporate Responsibility in Society

This article describes a survey among Finnish business students to find answers to the following questions: How do business students define a well-run company? What are their attitudes on the responsibilities of business in society? Do the attitudes of women students differ from those of men? What is the influence of business education on these attitudes? Our sample comprised 217 students pursuing a master’s degree in business studies at two Finnish universities. The results show that, as a whole, students valued the stakeholder model of the company more than the shareholder model. However, attitudes differed according to gender: women students were more in favor of the stakeholder model and placed more weight on corporate ethical, environmental, and societal responsibilities than their men counterparts – both at the beginning and at the end of their studies. Thus, no gender socialization effect of business school education could be observed in this sense. Business school education was found to shape women and men students’ attitudes in two ways. Firstly, valuation of the shareholder model increased and, secondly, the importance of equal-opportunity employment decreased in the course of education. This raises the question whether the educational context is creating an undesirable tendency among future business professionals. The results further suggest that the sociocultural context can make a difference in how corporate social responsibility is perceived. The article also discusses possible ways to influence the attitudes of business students.     

Insights for a post-Brexit era: marketing the UK as a study destination – an analysis of Arab,Chinese, and Indian student choices

ABSTRACT

Britain’s scheduled exit from the European Union (‘Brexit’) has long-term ramifications for strategic marketing. Faced with new challenges and uncertainty, UK universities are increasingly looking beyond EU borders to recruit international students. In this context, we draw upon country-of-origin theory to categorise the factors that influence non-EU international student decisions to select an overseas study destination and institution. Based on the results of a survey with 317 Arab, Chinese, and Indian students attending UK universities, we identify eight factors that influence international student decisions to study in the UK (social safety, education quality, entry obstacles, environment, recommendations, knowledge of host country, work and immigration, and meeting new cultures). The results address gaps in the literature, offering new insights that will help practitioners and academics to better understand how international students select a country and university as a study location.     

Conflicting Views of Markets and Economic Justice: Implications for Student Learning

This paper describes a flaw in the teaching of issues related to market economics and social justice at American institutions of higher learning. The flaw we speak of is really a gap, or an educational disconnect, which exists between those faculty who support market-based economies and those who believe capitalism promotes economic injustice. The thesis of this paper is that the gap is so wide and the ideas that are promoted are so disconnected that students are trapped into choosing one or the other position (or neither) and are left unable to link the two sides of the discussion. Such an educational process is not one that produces free and reasoned discernment. In this paper, we briefly relate how we came to be aware of the disconnect and its harms. We present evidence that a pedagogical gulf exists within the teaching of markets and capitalism at American universities – faculty interviews, course syllabi, portions of the corpus of material generally referred to as Catholic Social Thought, as well as references to traditional, mainstream economic theory. Further, we give evidence of the confusion and frustration among students this gulf causes. We suggest possible reasons for the gulf–primarily through an investigation of the differences in underlying assumptions and misperceptions that exist between two divisions within universities. We conclude by suggesting a set of curricular changes designed to improve teaching. The authors’ aim is not to change people’s minds. It is to change their teaching. The authors believe that these curricular changes will leave students less frustrated and better prepared for a life of significant service – with improved critical thinking skills.David F. Carrithers is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Finance in the Albers School of Business & Economics at Seattle University. He has taught at Seattle University since 1985, in the areas of corporate and entrepreneurial finance. Mr. Carrithers earned an MBA from the University of Washington in 1984. Dean Peterson is assistant professor of economics at Seattle University. His research interests focus on the history of economic thought. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois in 1994.     

高等教育大众化背景下高校学籍管理预警机制的建设与实践

在高等教育大众化的背景下,学生的学籍问题日益突出,传统的＂事后处理型＂,已经不能适应新时期大学生的特点和需求,建立一套＂事前、事中预防型＂的主动性学籍预警机制很有必要,它对于保障学生学习利益,树立良好学风,构建和谐的教育环境有着十分重要的作用。     

Will enterprise social networking systems promote knowledge management and organizational learning? An empirical study

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, enterprise social media practitioners and researchers are keen to know how the enterprise usage of social media can be converted into the improved organizational performance. Meanwhile, organizational learning has long been considered as one of the measures of organizational performance. This article investigated the impact of enterprise social networking systems (ESNS) usage on knowledge management processes and organizational learning; in particular, we examined the mediating role of knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. Four theories from sociology and strategic management were used to build the hypotheses in the research model. An online survey was conducted to empirically test the model. Our study results showed that ESNS usage directly and indirectly influences organizational learning; and that knowledge management processes (knowledge creation and sharing) mediate the path between the two. This study contributes to the existing literature on enterprise social media for three reasons. First, it is among the first to connect the three independent concepts (social media, knowledge management, and organizational learning) and explore their relationships in one theoretical framework. Second, this work also specifically examines the influence of ESNS (Yammer in this case) on organizational processes and outcomes. Third, this is a pioneering study that employs multiple theories to address the research questions under the organizational social media context. Therefore, the research gives implications for both practitioners and scholars who are interested in understanding the effectiveness of ESNS usage in the modern organizations today.     

Is the learning community of economics and accounting effective? Empirical assessment of class achievements

Learning communities are increasingly used at colleges and universities, as one of the goals of a learning community is to increase interaction among students and teach them how to apply knowledge. The goal of this research is to assess the learning community of the economics and accounting students in their class performance measured by class grades. By controlling individual characteristics (e.g., gender, high school performance, First Year Experience program) and class-related characteristics (e.g., instructor and major), the authors found that the learning community of economics and accounting, which is organized into both economics and accounting classes on a back-to-back basis, is no more effective for class grades than for non–learning community students.     

浅析篮球教学过程中学生学习兴趣的培养

学习兴趣是引导学生进行积极主动学习和持续性的内在动力,与被动的强制性学习相比,学生带有浓厚的学习兴趣进行学习能够使学生对基础知识的掌握程度更加牢固,此外,良好的学习兴趣还可激发学生学习的主动性.基于学习情趣的培养对学生学习的重要作用,在高校积极推进教学改革的过程中,学校在开展篮球体育教学活动的过程中,要努力培养学生的学习兴趣.本文对目前学习兴趣在体育教学过程中的培养状况以及怎样在篮球教学过程中激发和培养学生的学习兴趣提出了具体的改进措施.     

Managerial and Organizational Learning in Chinese Firms

This investigation has thrown light on ways in which international joint ventures (IJVs) are addressing the issues of balance between the need to learn the knowledge and management practices introduced by the other partners and the need for the partners to maintain that level of control which enables them to secure appropriate returns from their equity investment. The results from the investigation of 67 IJVs show equity can be used as an appropriate indicator for examining both the process and the outcome of learning embedded in the organization. They also suggest that the control leveraged from a majority equity share can be used to safeguard knowledge and competencies whilst simultaneously responding to the necessity to incorporate the knowledge and management practices of its partner. Learning achieved in an IJV may not necessarily relate only to the control mechanisms exercised as there are many other variables that may have an impact including attitudes, cultural capital building, or even government policy. This study thus highlights the relationship between the impact derived from the ways of committing the resources onto an IJV and its contribution to the learning achieved in an IJV.     

The Impact of Acculturation on Immigrants’ Business Ethics Attitudes

This study explores to what extent immigrants adopt the business ethical attitudes of their host country and/or maintain those of their country of origin. For countries that have significant immigration, acculturation is an important social issue. An immigrant’s acculturation is influenced through the ability to adapt his/her “ethical culture of origin” by integrating it with the host country’s ethical culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the role of acculturation on immigrant’s ethical attitudes. What happens to individuals, who have developed in one cultural context, when they attempt to live in a new cultural context? Three groups were the object of this study: (1) native students of business administration in Israel, (2) students of business administration in the Ukraine and (3) business students in Israel who had emigrated from the Ukraine. Samples of these student populations allowed the study of acculturation effects on the immigrants as they acclimated to Israeli society. Results showed that students living in the Ukraine had the lowest ethical attitudes, followed by Ukraine immigrants in Israel. Israeli-born students had significantly higher ethical attitudes than either of the two Ukrainian groups. Accordingly, the ethical perceptions of immigrant students showed that they were influenced by both their home and host cultures. According to Berry’s (Appl Psychol Int Rev 46(1): 5–68, 1997) model of acculturation strategies, integration was their preferred strategy. The implications of these results and guidelines for further research are suggested.     

University specialization and new firm creation across industries

This article examines how the scientific specialization of universities impacts new firm creation across industries at the local level. In accordance with the Pavitt-Miozzo-Soete taxonomy, we consider eight industry categories, which reflect the characteristics of firms’ innovation patterns and, ultimately, the knowledge inputs that firms require. Using data on new firm creation in Italian provinces (i.e., at the NUTS3 level), we estimate negative binomial regression models separately for each industry category to relate new firm creation to the scientific specialization in basic sciences, applied sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities of neighboring universities. We find that universities specialized in applied sciences and engineering have a broad positive effect on new firm creation in a given province, this effect being especially strong in service industries. Conversely, the positive effect of university specialization in basic sciences is confined to new firm creation in science-based manufacturing industries, even if this effect is of large magnitude. Universities specialized in social sciences and humanities have no effect on new firm creation at the local level whatever industry category is considered.     

Predictors of Effective Web-Based International Business Management Courses in China: Students’ Perceptions on Course Interaction and Satisfaction

The aim of this study is to examine the determinants of effective web-based teaching and learning processes, using MEBIR (Management Education by Internet Readiness) Scale. Data were obtained from 407 students studying in a number of universities in China. The results demonstrate that the perceived quality of the web-based international management courses offered in the Chinese universities hinges on a number of factors such as course interaction, and course satisfaction. The study identified the Internet readiness of students at universities in China and paved avenues for asynchronous learning networks with the use of collaborative Internet technologies in interuniversity instructions. The implications surrounding the effect of the web-based management programs on students, staff, and universities are discussed.     

浅析大学生学业困难的成因分析与预警方法

当前,高校学业困难的学生已引起教育界人士的普遍关注。通过对在校大学生学习存在困难的群体进行初步分析认为:学生中之所以出现较大面积的迟到、旷课、痴迷上网和部分打架斗殴等问题,主要是因为学生的预期与大学的办学条件以及教学管理水平不符,从而导致学生信心丧失、无心向学;地域文化差异形成的气质与性格导致学生产生攀比心理;东西部地区经济发展差异导致家庭经济困难学生极度自卑或心理失衡;人生目标迷茫、家庭情感缺失和校园文化活动贫瘠导致学生对网络产生依恋。高校应加强对学习困难学生的教育管理,密切与下心学习困难的学生家长进行沟通与联络,不断丰富校园文化,帮助他们重新树立对生活的热情和信心。     

Firm–Employee Relationships from a Social Responsibility Perspective: Developments from Communist Thinking to Market Ideology in Romania. A Mass Media Story

Firm–employee relationships are dependent on the wider societal context and on the role business plays in society. Changes in institutional arrangements in society affect the perceived responsibilities of firms to their personnel. In this study, we examine mass media discussions about firm–employee relationships from a social responsibility perspective via a longitudinal study in Romanian society. Our analysis indicates how the expected responsibilities of firms towards employees have altered with the changing role of firms in society since the early 1990s. These transformations correspond to the ideological developments, from communist to market-based thinking, which have taken place in post-communist Eastern Europe. More specifically, our study shows how the diminishing expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are linked in mass media to increasingly important talk of human resource management (HRM). HRM is a modern business approach believed to address personnel needs and organisational objectives simultaneously. The congruency of goals in HRM may mistakenly lead to the conclusion that organisations are inherently responsible toward their personnel. We argue that this may not necessarily be the case. HRM, matching well the new free-market ideology in post-communist Eastern Europe, was eagerly embraced in that it defined firm–personnel relationships. In this study, we question whether this was an adequate theoretical perspective for Romanian firms to adopt as it lacks sufficient ethical grounding. We also call for a higher awareness concerning the role of mass media in the management literature, since its current role in constructing the ‘rightness’ and ‘wrongness’ in firm–personnel relationships is hardly considered.