‘Thinking Before Acting’ or ‘Acting Before Thinking’: Antecedents of Individual Action Propensity in Work Situations

We introduce the concept of ‘individual action propensity’ to examine the approach of individuals towards solving situations for which they lack knowledge and/or experience about what to do. We focus on a naturally contrasting pair of responses: ‘thinking before acting’ or ‘acting before thinking’, and associate low action propensity with thinking one's way into understanding how to act, and high action propensity with acting one's way into understanding such situations. We build on regulatory mode theory – with its dimensions of locomotion and assessment and the trade‐off between speed and accuracy – to examine individual characteristics as predictors of individual action propensity. We find that individual action propensity is associated with being a woman, having fewer years of formal education, not relying on help‐seeking behaviours, and having a positive attitude towards spontaneity. Our findings shed light on why individuals take action, or not, and provide implications for research on organizational action propensity.     

Kurzarbeit — Sinnvoller Konjunkturpuffer oder verlängertes Arbeitslosengeld?

Zusammenfassung  Zur überwindung der aktuellen Krise wird nicht nur in Deutschland das Instrument der Kurzarbeit verwendet. Es ist in Deutschland im Vergleich zu anderen L?ndern jedoch sehr gro?zügig gestaltet und wurde kürzlich sogar noch ausgeweitet. Damit besteht die Gefahr, dass nicht nur — wie beabsichtigt — bei einem vorübergehenden Arbeitsausfall Entlassungen verhindert werden, sondern notwendige strukturelle Anpassungen verz?gert werden. Wie ist die Ausgestaltung der deutschen Kurzarbeit zu bewerten? Dr. Werner Eichhorst, 40, ist stellvertretender Direktor am Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit, IZA in Bonn; Paul Marx, 26, Dipl.-Politologe, ist dort als Doktorand t?tig. Erweiterte und aktualisierte Fassung von W. Eichhorst, P. Marx: Le ch?mage partiel, ammortisateur social de la crise?, in: Regards sur l’Economie Allemande, H. 90, S. 23–30.     

Wie weit geht die Leistungspflicht der Krankenkasse?

Station?re Krankenhausbehandlung - Nicht immer sind sich die Sozialgerichte einig, wenn es um die Kostenübernahme einer Krankenhausbehandlung geht. In einem strittigen Fall wurde daher der Gro?e Senat des Bundessozialgerichts angerufen.     

Sturz mit Folgen

Verletzung der Obhutspflichten - Sturze sind bei Heimbewohnern ein haufiger Grund fur Haftungsklagen. Zeigt sich, dass die Sorgfaltspflichten verletzt wurden, kommt die Einrichtung um Schadenersatzzahlungen meist nicht herum.     

An empirical comparison of the efficacy of covariance-based and variance-based SEM

Variance-based SEM, also known under the term partial least squares (PLS) analysis, is an approach that has gained increasing interest among marketing researchers in recent years. During the last 25 years, more than 30 articles have been published in leading marketing journals that have applied this approach instead of the more traditional alternative of covariance-based SEM (CBSEM). However, although an analysis of these previous publications shows that there seems to be at least an implicit agreement about the factors that should drive the choice between PLS analysis and CBSEM, no research has until now empirically compared the performance of these approaches given a set of different conditions. Our study addresses this open question by conducting a large-scale Monte-Carlo simulation. We show that justifying the choice of PLS due to a lack of assumptions regarding indicator distribution and measurement scale is often inappropriate, as CBSEM proves extremely robust with respect to violations of its underlying distributional assumptions. Additionally, CBSEM clearly outperforms PLS in terms of parameter consistency and is preferable in terms of parameter accuracy as long as the sample size exceeds a certain threshold (250 observations). Nevertheless, PLS analysis should be preferred when the emphasis is on prediction and theory development, as the statistical power of PLS is always larger than or equal to that of CBSEM; already, 100 observations can be sufficient to achieve acceptable levels of statistical power given a certain quality of the measurement model.     

Asset price bubbles in Arrow-Debreu and sequential equilibrium

Summary. Price bubbles in an Arrow-Debreu equilibrium in an infinite-time economy are a manifestation of lack of countable additivity of valuation of assets. In contrast, the known examples of price bubbles in a sequential equilibrium in infinite time cannot be attributed to the lack of countable additivity of valuation. In this paper we develop a theory of valuation of assets in sequential markets (with no uncertainty) and study the nature of price bubbles in light of this theory. We define a payoff pricing operator that maps a sequence of payoffs to the minimum cost of an asset holding strategy that generates it. We show that the payoff pricing functional is linear and countably additive on the set of positive payoffs if and only if there is no Ponzi scheme, provided that there is no restriction on long positions in the assets. In the known examples of equilibrium price bubbles in sequential markets valuation is linear and countably additive. The presence of a price bubble means that the dividends of an asset can be purchased in sequential markets at a cost lower than the asset's price. We present further examples of equilibrium price bubbles in which valuation is nonlinear, or linear but not countably additive.     

Co-evolution of Preferences and Information in Simple Games of Trust

In standard rational choice modelling decisions are made according to given information and preferences. In the model presented here the `information technology' of individual decision-makers as well as their preferences evolve in a dynamic process. In this process decisions are made rationally by players who differ in their informational as well as in their preference type. Relative success of alternative decisions feeds back on the type composition of the population which in turn influences rational decision-making. An indirect evolutionary analysis of an elementary yet important basic game of trust shows that under certain parameter constellations the population dynamics of the evolutionary process specify a unique completely mixed rest point. However, as opposed to previous studies of preference formation in the game of trust there is no convergence to but only circumventing the rest point if the informational status of individuals evolves rather than being chosen strategically.     

Encouraging behavioural change towards sustainable tourism: a German approach to free public transport for tourists

Constantly growing transport demand by tourists within holiday destinations and related increases in CO₂ emissions have helped foster a new trend amongst German destinations towards promoting a green transportation mode for vacationers. A key innovation is the “Gästeticket” or Guest Ticket concept, which offers tourists free public transport, on buses and trains, within defined destination areas throughout their stay. This paper describes the background to this concept, and the many different ways in which it has been created, designed, implemented and administered. A qualitative research methodology interviewed key public and private sector stakeholders, including local and regional politicians, accommodation providers, public transport providers and public transport authorities to identify favourable starting conditions, successful financial and institutional implementation strategies, and both supporters and opponents of guest tickets. Local politicians and many small accommodation providers opposed the concept, while regional and national politicians supported it, as did public transport providers and public transport authorities. The concept is compared to the more holistic Alpine Pearls concept founded in Austria, and the case made for better explanation of the Guest Ticket concept to its opponents, better marketing, further research and closer cooperation between transport providers and planners with tourism attractions and accommodation providers.