Customer reactions to self-checkout discontinuance

Self-service technologies (SSTs) increasingly permeate retail space. Yet, sometimes retailers decide to revert to human-delivered service mode by discontinuing their incumbent SST. In this study, we examine how self-checkout (SCO) discontinuance affects customers’ perceptions of SCO technology and purchase behavior. We conduct a natural field experiment by surveying two groups of customers pre- and post- SCO discontinuance: treatment group (who experience discontinuance) and control group (who do not experience discontinuance). Leveraging difference-in-differences analyses, we find that SCO discontinuance results in decreases in customers’ satisfaction with technology, intentions to use technology, perceived simplicity of technology, and basket size. Our results inform managers of the potential downsides of discontinuing SST and provide corroborating evidence of the technology’s benefits.     

高职院校思想政治理论课与职业素养教育融合研究

高校思想政治理论课是大学生思想政治教育的主渠道。职业素养教育是高职院校人才培养体系中的特色环节,也是高职院校进行大学生素质教育的重要阵地。高职院校思想政治理论课与职业素养教育实现有机融合,可以有效调动各种资源形成教育合力,有利于高职院校构建大思政工作格局。高职院校可以从做好顶层设计、整合人才队伍、融入教育载体、互鉴教育方式、规范考核评价五个方面加强思想政治理论课与职业素养教育的有机融合,形成协同育人效果。     

“两网融合”背景下贸易经济专业人才培养模式探讨

本文总结梳理了“两网融合”复合型贸易经济专业人才培养的现状和新的要求,分析了“两网融合”复合型贸易经济专业人才培养的发展方向。从建立教学和科研复合型教学团队模式、信息化平台和实验室“多媒介”培养模式、“两网融合”平台全流程内部审计型人才培养模式、“课程思政+专业技能”结合教学模式等四个方面总结模式创新的基本途径。     

A capabilities perspective on the joint effects of internationalization time,speed, geographic scope and managers’ competencies on SME survival

This study examines the effect of key internationalization contingencies on SME survival. We argue early internationalization increases the probability of firm failure, while international experience reduces it. However, the survival odds among international new ventures may be improved by their post-entry international expansion scope and speed, and by managers’ competencies. These internationalization facets provide firms with opportunities to develop and exploit their resources and capabilities, and thus enhance their survival chances. Drawing on a sample of 271 manufacturers followed between 2005 and 2014, we find results that provide support to most of our arguments, and hold theoretical and managerial relevance.     

企业青年人才培养的科学策略分析

随着社会经济的发展,企业所面临的市场竞争环境更加激烈,从本质上来说,企业之间的竞争即知识和人才的竞争。青年人才属于助推企业持续发展的重要资源,也是促进企业改革创新的中坚力量。基于此,企业必须要充分认识到青年人才培养的必要性,采取有效策略开展好此项工作。论文结合实际工作对此问题展开了探讨。     

一站式实训工厂开放与运行模式研究与实践

论文以一站式实训工厂开放与运行模式为研究对象,从组织结构、实训内容、考核过程和方法、就业对接四个方面,选定某一群体专业学生进行了一站式实训工厂开放实践,取得了一定的效果,为今后的实训工厂开放工作提供参考。     

医院会计信息化背景下财务人员的内部培训研究

论文对当前会计信息化前景作用下,医院对其财务工作人员所实施的内部培训予以充分的研究,并对实施此项培训的原因进行了相应的探究,进而提出了针对性的相关措施,以提升医院内部培训的有效性,证明其所具有的合理性以及现实性意义。     

The Neutrality Illusion: Biased Economics,Biased Training,and Biased Monetary Policy. Testing the Role of Ideology on FOMC Voting Behaviour

This research is trying to shed light on two myths that are usually widespread: the first one being the idea of the academic economist as a neutral scientist finding uncontestable consensual truths, thanks to uncontestable empirical methods, the second, the idea of the central banker as a Weberian neutral bureaucrat setting aside personal beliefs to act mechanically for the common good. Deconstructing this ‘neutrality illusion’, this work argues that economics is actually a divided and ideologically marked discipline despite its aim at natural-science-type-legitimacy. It argues in a related discussion that such ideological bias also impedes a purely neutral conduct of monetary policy, undermining the very idea of central bank independence. Linking these two arguments, it argues that graduate training in economics is the first place for the formation of biased preferences, because of the substantial ideological sorting that exists across universities. Using a unique database on FOMC members’ votes and ideology, the paper tests this idea empirically and despite unavoidable caveats, finds robust evidence of a systematic impact of the ideological features of their alma mater on FOMC members’ voting behaviour – impact that we found more important than the other traditional determinants of central bankers’ actions.     

Ethnic discrimination in hiring,labour market tightness and the business cycle - evidence from field experiments

Several studies using observational data suggest that ethnic discrimination increases in downturns of the economy. We investigate whether ethnic discrimination depends on labour market tightness using data from correspondence studies. We utilize three correspondence studies of the Swedish labour market and two different measures of labour market tightness. These two measures produce qualitatively similar results, and, opposite to the observational studies, suggest that ethnic discrimination in hiring decreases in downturns of the economy.     

Applying the counseling-learning approach to a tourism-related massive open online course

ABSTRACT

This study discusses how to apply counseling-learning (CL) principles to a particular e-learning solution for teaching a tourism-related subject via a massive open online course (MOOC). Several effective caring patterns in achieving learning-related goals and being part of a community according to the CL principles are presented and discussed using the MOOC “eTourism: Communication Perspectives” as a case study. The study underlines how the MOOC platform can act as a place for contents enjoinment and active learning. Moreover, the active role of social media for increasing the engagement of learners in the proposed activities and for developing a sense of the community is identified. In particular, Facebook and Twitter can act as places for community building and informal social interactions among learners that last beyond the completion of the course, which in turn can be a valid aid for continuing the relationships among instructors/learners and learners/learners, and for reaching new ones.