Soccer Spectatorship and Identity Discourses Among Latino Immigrants

This study examined the role of soccer spectatorship in identity development and community-building processes among Latino immigrants. Transnationalism and social identity theory were used as a theoretical foundation of this study. Twelve interviews with immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, and Argentina were conducted between June 2009 and January 2010. Interviews took place in two sports bars following the soccer games between the U.S. men's National Team and that of Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. The findings showed that the interviewees developed three types of identities: national, pan-ethnic (Latino), and transnational. Common interest in soccer led to forging bonds with other Latinos and in creating a community feeling and allegiances. Reinforcing identities and displaying togetherness and, at the same time, difference from others, was often achieved through symbolic means. The findings are analyzed in the context of the literature on (new) nationalism, identity politics, and imagined communities.     

Acculturative Stress and Leisure among Chinese International Graduate Students

ABSTRACT

This study explored the roles of leisure participation in helping Chinese international graduate students cope with acculturative stress. In particular, it examined (a) the expectations and preparations with respect to acculturative stress made by the students prior to their arrival to the United States, (b) the acculturative stressors experienced by the students during the postarrival transition phase, (c) the role of leisure participation in coping with acculturative stress, and (d) the limitations of leisure as a coping strategy and the negative impacts of leisure on acculturative stress. Two rounds of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 first-year Chinese international graduate students attending a large midwestern university. The findings revealed that due to the unique cultural influence and the status of international students, the participants experienced distinctive acculturative stressors. Although leisure participation was an effective tool in combating acculturative stress, in some circumstances it a led to a plethora of negative outcomes.     

Changes in recreation participation in natural environments after immigration among immigrants in the U.S., Netherlands,Germany and Poland1

This study examines the use of natural environments for recreation among immigrants and factors that led to changes in their use of natural environments between home and host countries. The data were collected through individual interviews with 13 Latino and 13 Chinese immigrants in the U.S., 15 Ukrainian and 11 Vietnamese immigrants in Poland, 9 Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands and 9 Turkish immigrants in Germany. The findings show that changes in the use of natural environments for recreation are related to different types of nature in home and host countries, access-related issues, quality of natural environments, work focus among immigrants, transportation problems, cultural differences, lack of knowledge of opportunities, life stage and ageing. Based on the findings, we develop a model that outlines different types of interaction with natural environments among immigrants following their settlement in the host countries.     

Innovations in the Application of Insurance-linked Securities in Non-financial Companies

Recently, capital market innovations within transferring insurable risk have grown in diversity. It initiated the development of innovative financial instruments, with the prime role of Insurance Linked Securities （ILS）. Financial institutions （insurers in particular） remain the key players on this market. However, ILS are applicable in non-financial companies as well. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to broadly discuss the application of ILS in non-financial companies. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to provide answers to the crucial questions： （1） What are the potential areas of the use of ILS in non-financial companies？ （2） What are the consequences of the use of ILS in non-financial companies？ The paper is based on the application of document analysis and literature studies as its main research methods. The literature review was directed to enable the provision of systemized characteristics of 1LS. Additionally, case studies were implemented to indicate the areas of ILS applications in non-financial companies. Overall, ILS in the class of financial instruments （including cat bonds, insurance derivatives, and contingent capital structures） may find potential use in non-financial companies. However, significant limitations of such a use are identifiable, mainly within the expert knowledge need and accessibility.     

Architecture,Economic Imaginaries and Urban Politics: The Office Tower as Socially Classifying Device

In recent studies on the role of architecture in urban restructuring, city marketing and the related struggles for meaning, there has been a focus on high‐profile architects and iconic architecture. In this article I wish to examine architecture and building types as ‘socially signifying devices’, in order to take more everyday buildings and their images into account as well. Using Vienna as a case study, I explore how the commercial office tower is utilized to represent the internationalization of the local economy and render new urban political‐economic strategies socially meaningful. This is done by examining recent shifts in urban policy, and the means, channels and practices of discursive and visual representation of the local office architecture. Connecting the concept of economic imaginaries from cultural political economy (CPE) with a sociological approach to building types, I argue that economic imaginaries gain in plausibility if they are discursively and visually anchored in urban space. However, it is also shown that this kind of spatialization of new economic imaginaries is constructed on a selective visual representation of buildings: the assignment of international economic activities to local office towers is revealed to be only partially true in the case of Vienna.     

For our valued customers only: Examining consumer responses to preferential treatment practices

Preferential treatment is a prevalent relationship marketing practice of companies treating some customers better than others. Using two studies, the authors explore the practice of preferential treatment and show that preferential treatment influences both consumers who receive it and those who do not. Two underlying mechanisms for this effect are identified. When treated unfavorably, fairness concerns arise, negatively affecting consumers' subsequent behavioral response toward the firm. On the other hand, when treated favorably, consumers experience feelings of gratitude, which positively influence their purchase behaviors and word-of-mouth. However, a presence of others who do not get the same treatment leads to feeling of embarrassment, consequently reducing fairness perceptions. As a result, receiving preferential treatment does not always lead to positive attitudinal and behavioral consequences. Overall, fairness and gratitude represent two mechanisms underlying the effect of preferential treatment on consumer subsequent behaviors and each has its distinct antecedents.     

警惕CEO经验陷阱

正越来越多的公司希望雇佣有经验的CEO,然而,新的研究发现这并非总是明智的选择"很多CEO看起来‘功勋赫赫’,他们在某一时点、于某家公司取得了非凡的成绩。简直就是天才。不过,这些CEO的水平到底如何?不妨把他们安置在一个完全不同的位置上,试看他们能否再次取得成功。为了在新的职位上成功,他们必须会听、能懂,理解新职位的文化缘何不同……他们在原来的工作中积累的种种经验将不再奏效。"阿尔奇·诺曼,英国连锁超     

The determinants of consumers’ online shopping cart abandonment

Despite placing items in virtual shopping carts, online shoppers frequently abandon them —an issue that perplexes online retailers and has yet to be explained by scholars. Here, we identify key drivers to online cart abandonment and suggest cognitive and behavioral reasons for this non-buyer behavior. We show that the factors influencing consumer online search, consideration, and evaluation play a larger role in cart abandonment than factors at the purchase decision stage. In particular, many customers use online carts for entertainment or as a shopping research and organizational tool, which may induce them to buy at a later session or via another channel. Our framework extends theories of online buyer and non-buyer behavior while revealing new inhibitors to buying in the Internet era. The findings offer scholars a broad explanation of consumer motivations for cart abandonment. For retailers, the authors provide suggestions to improve purchase conversion rates and multi-channel management.     

Creating Creditworthiness through Reciprocal Trade

The paper investigates how barter can be used to finance imports and restore the creditworthiness of highly indebted countries when reputation as an enforcement mechanism for credit repayment does not work. The authors argue that payments in goods can be used to collateralize a trade credit and thus improve the creditor's incentives to pursue defaulting debtors. Furthermore, it is shown that barter is particularly advantageous if export revenues of the debtor country are stochastic, even in the absence of risk aversion. The predictions of the model are consistent with data on actual barter contracts.