Family farmers' strategies to develop autonomy through agroecological and solidarity economy practices: The case of BioVida in the Ecuadorian Andes

Considering the global restructuring affecting agrarian landscapes, we build on the concept of autonomy proposed by van der Ploeg and colleagues (but extended and critically complemented) to analyse how family farmers can build this autonomy to face rural capitalist tendencies and maintain their activities and identity. We offer insights from a case study in the Ecuadorian Andes, the BioVida organization that is linked to agroecological and social and solidarity economy movements. Our findings show that family farming autonomy is not being achieved homogeneously for the whole household but must be analysed through an intersectional approach. Furthermore, there are simultaneous processes to achieve different degrees of autonomy and (inter-)dependency, which are co-constitutive along gender and age lines and are conditioned by structural constraints. Therefore, for our case study area, agribusiness and family farming processes and spaces seem to operate co-constitutively rather than antagonistically in practical terms. Agroecology-based achievements so far act as a localized buffer against adversity rather than an emancipative territorial project of autonomy.     

Vertical,horizontal, and self control in academia: Survey evidence on their diverging effects on perceived researcher autonomy and identity

Foucault-oriented research has since long argued that the proliferation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) within academia threatens perceived researcher autonomy and identity through normalization and stigmatization of deviants. The theoretical model developed in this study nuances these claims by suggesting that effects of PMSs will differ depending on whether they are enacted as important for superiors (vertical control), colleagues (horizontal control), the researchers themselves (self control), and how they are constructed by these very systems. Overall, the structural equation modelling analyses conducted on questionnaire data from some 700 Swedish researchers strongly confirm the model developed. Specifically, they show that PMSs enacted as a vertical form of control indeed threatens perceived autonomy and identity, and that horizontal control in the form of publish and peer pressure among colleagues works as a mediating mechanism which strengthens these effects. However, our analyses also show that when PMSs are enacted as important means of self control, this in fact increases perceptions of autonomy and reduces feelings of identity threat. We also find that the extent to which these systems construct researchers as high-performing is an important antecedent explaining how come they can be enacted in so different ways, and the effects thereof.     

Enjoyment or autonomy? The interactive effect of brand ritual and brand personality on consumer purchase

The use of brand rituals is a pervasive tactic in business, but the marketing effectiveness of this practice largely remains unknown. In the present research, we postulate the contingent nature of brand rituals on consumer purchase. Based on the two countervailing processes—the enhancement of perceived enjoyment and the reduction of perceived autonomy, we suggest that the effectiveness of brand rituals is determined by the interaction between the degree of brand ritual (simple vs. sophisticated) and the brand personality (excitement vs. sincerity). By means of field and laboratory experiments in various product categories (i.e., fruit tea, juice, stationery, and hand cream), we show that for a sincere brand, a sophisticated brand ritual elicits higher consumer purchase than a simple brand ritual only via the process of enhanced enjoyment because its sincerity personality weakens the salience of the process of reduced autonomy. In contrast, for an exciting brand, a sophisticated brand ritual elicits lower consumer purchase than a simple brand ritual via the process of enhanced enjoyment but reduced autonomy (the autonomy route dominates the enjoyment route) because its exciting personality intensifies the salience of the process of reduced autonomy. In simple words, a sophisticated brand ritual benefits a sincere brand, but a simple one benefits an exciting brand. Our findings extend the research on ritual and brand ritual and offer implications for marketing practice regarding how to design a brand ritual more effectively.     

Geographic Cross-Sectional Fiscal Spending Multipliers and the Role of Local Autonomy: Evidence from European Regions

Using a panel of 268 European regions during 1990–2014, we document that the degree of local government's autonomy, measured with the “Local Autonomy Index,” has a significant positive effect on the fiscal spending multiplier. The estimated geographic cross-sectional fiscal spending multiplier is on average close to zero in countries with the lowest degree of local autonomy, and around unity in countries with the highest degree of local autonomy. Multipliers are state-dependent: larger when gross domestic product is below trend and when there is slack in the labor market; in those states, local autonomy has a particularly large positive effect on the multiplier. To interpret the empirical findings, we build a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model where both local and central government spending contribute to a public good that enhances private labor productivity. Local governments are more efficient in producing the public good and the multiplier is higher in countries where local government spending has a larger share in the production of the public good.