Local intentions to participate in ecotourism development in Taiwan’s Atayal communities

By applying the theoretical concepts of planned behaviors and social exchange, this study aims to examine the decisive factors that influence the behavioral intentions of local residents in three Atayal communities in Yilan County, Taiwan, to participate in the community development of ecotourism. This study uses AMOS software to perform structural equation modeling. The results of the study indicate that (1) residents’ attitudes toward community-based ecotourism development, perceived behavioral control, and perceived social benefits have significant correlations with their behavioral intentions and that (2) respondents involved in community-related organizations have more positive behavioral intentions. Due to their location in remote areas to which tourists rarely venture, these three Atayal communities lack the incentives to attract tourists or to trigger the participation of the broader community in ecotourism development with the promise of sharing tourism revenue. Most Atayal residents in the research area clearly lack the ‘rights to develop’ and the ‘means to get involved’. From the perspective of power relations, this study could contribute insight into the theoretical and empirical implications of hierarchical influences to examine the political–economic inferiority of indigenous behavioral intentions toward community-based ecotourism development.     

Market segmentation for a leverage revitalization of China’s inbound tourism: the case of US leisure tourists

China’s inbound tourism currently faces a tough choice between a niche strategy and a wide-range tourist attraction. The derivative concept of ‘leverageable market’ provides a reasonable method to solve the problem. This study, thus, attempts to conduct market segmentation for identifying a core crowd in the leisure tourism market of US near-venturers that leverages revitalization. A mixed segmentation method was adopted that combined ‘a posterior approach’ with ‘a priori approach’ in an overall multi-stage framework. ‘Venturesomeness’ in Plog’s psychographic model was the first principle segmentation variable used, which is intrinsically pertinent to the connotation of a leverageable market. ‘Activity participation’ was added to further partition the near-venturers identified, yielding refined management strategies. The data first indicated an obvious shift of China’s psychographic destination position from ‘near-venturer’ to ‘mid-centric’. Cluster analysis further identified four activity-based near-venturer segments: outdoor stimulus experiencers, recreation and amusement seekers, culture searchers, and extensive interest holders. Significant socio-demographic and trip-related features were found among the clusters. The corresponding managerial and theoretical implications, limitations, and agendas for further related research were finally discussed.     

Subjective well‐being and political participation: Empirical evidence from Ghana

A large, extant literature examines the effect of political factors on individual subjective well‐being. These studies have treated political factors as a cause and subjective well‐being as an effect. A sparse but growing literature now advances the argument that subjective well‐being is a cause and voting or political participation an effect. In this paper we examine whether subjective well‐being influences voting and political participation in Ghana. Using data from Wave 6 of the World Values Survey in Ghana, we find that subjective well‐being influences neither voting nor protest behavior.     

Structural Changes in the Labor Market and the Rise of Early Retirement in France and Germany

The rise of early retirement in Europe is typically attributed to the European system of taxes and transfers. A model with an imperfectly competitive labor market allows us to consider also the effects of bargaining power and of matching efficiency on pre‐retirement. We find that lower bargaining power of workers and declining matching efficiency have been important determinants of early retirement in France and Germany. These structural changes, combined with early retirement transfers and population aging, are also consistent with the employment and unemployment rates, labor share and seniority premia.     

国际投资协定透明度要求变化及其启示 ——以美国实践为考察对象

以美国BIT为代表的国际投资协定在透明度条款以及其他条款涉及透明度的规定中通过加强公众参与程度显著提升了透明度要求。这一变化是投资仲裁实践、国内贸易立法以及市民社会诉求合力作用的结果。透明度要求的提高一方面凸显了专业性社会组织对国际投资立法与实践的影响,另一方面则反映了美国借此维护本国利益的实质。对此,中国在对外投资协定的签署与实践中需要审慎对待透明度要求,同时加强本国专业性社会组织的培育和发展。     

网络政治文化发展的困境与对策研究

随着网络信息技术的发展，我国逐渐形成了一种全新的政治参与文化形态，即网络政治文化。网民政治素养水平参差不齐、政府电子政务建设水平不高、网络法律与道德体系不健全、网络中各种政治文化冲突日益加剧等原因影响着网络政治文化的形成与发展。我们应该坚持以社会主义核心价值观引导网络政治文化的方向、全面提高网民的政治素养使其自觉规范网络言行、加强网络信息监管营造网络政治文化良好氛围等，从而构建先进的网络政治文化。     

乡村规划建设中中心村选择的ROG模型研究——以鄂东平原地区为例

中心村作为农村居民集聚点及周边自然村服务中心,在建设美丽乡村、科学安排乡村用地布局,引导农村产业化和实现城乡一体化发展等方面具有不可替代的作用。但在乡村规划建设工作实践中,政府决策与管理人员、规划设计人员、乡村干部与群众对于中心村选择往往感到无所适从。[目的]文章通过构建中心村选择的ROG模型,科学合理选择中心村。[方法]以公众参与规划理论、空间相互作用理论等为理论基础,以鄂东平原地区乡村规划编制与管理为实践基础,采用因子分析方法,提取影响中心村选择的主要因子,构建村庄质量模型(M)与总相互作用力模型(G)。然后结合住区选址限制性条件(R)与村民意愿(O),构建中心村选择的ROG模型,并进行典型例证。[结果]用ROG模型计算各自然村的ROG数据,选择ROG数据最大的自然村为中心村。[结论]该模型可减少中心村选择的盲目性与主观性,实现中心村选择的科学合理性与可操作性,为实际工作提供直接指导。     

Complex Network of Aviation E-Services in the Belt and Road Initiative: A Heuristic Study of Small Data based on Block Modeling

ABSTRACT

The aviation e-service system is an important part of support for business communication in regions covered by Belt and Road initiative. In exploring the role of airline companies in this system, we examine the structure of the network, which consists of airlines interconnections based on small data of individual attributes of aviation companies in aviation e-services, and study these interconnections across different groups using block modeling. The heuristic solution of airline companies in development of international communication and cooperation is further discussed. Among our policy implications for global managers, we suggest the enhancement of cross-regional cooperation among airlines.     

Hotel environmental management initiative (HEMI) scale development

Owing to a lack of construct reliability and validity of environmental management measurements, advancements in understanding hotels’ environmental management practices have been somewhat limited. The goal of this paper is to propose a uniform and parsimonious scale that captures Hotels’ Environmental Management Initiative (HEMI) with the most common three dimensions in the hotel industry: environmental resource conservation efforts, environmental policy and training, and environmental public relation efforts. After the refinement of the initial items, the scale was confirmed with cross-cultural data obtained from full-time hotel employees in two Asian countries. The twenty-one item HEMI scale demonstrated a satisfactory level of content, convergent, discriminant, cross, and criterion-related validity. The proposed HEMI scale will serve as a useful tool for future hospitality scholars who would like to further explore the impact of hotels’ environmental management initiatives on employees’ attitudes and behaviors toward the environment and their environmental performance.