The role of perceived behavioural control in the constraint-negotiation process: the case of solo travel

This study extends the leisure constraint-effects-mitigation model to the perceived behavioural control (PBC)- constraint-negotiation model by adding PBC. Three competing models were tested to determine which model best fits the data. Results suggested that PBC mediates the relationship between motivation and negotiation, and there is a direct path from motivation to participation. Findings contribute to deepening and broadening the theory of leisure constraint negotiation because the new variable was successfully added to the original model and the model was extended to new settings (i.e. solo travel and non-Western).     

Food,farmers, and the future: Investigating prospects of increased food production within a national context

With international food price shocks in 2008 and 2011, food security became a political priority in many countries. In addition, some politicians have recently adopted a more nationalistic stance. Against that background, this paper critically investigates the prospects of increased food production within a national context. We use a small, high-income country, Norway, as an empirical case. In 2012, the government set a goal of increasing agricultural food production by 20% by 2030. We ask: 1) How has food production in Norway developed before and after the goal was set? 2) What plans do farmers have, and what do they regard as the main obstacles to increased production? We apply a mixed method combining public statistics, a survey, and interviews. We analyze four production systems: a) milk; b) grass-based meat; c) combined pig and grain; and d) grain. These systems represent around 80% of the domestically consumed food produced on farms in Norway. Since 2000, aggregate food production has had a slight downward trend with periodic fluctuations. Based on a political economy approach, we identify land and labor as the most limiting factors. Capital is less of a hindrance and offers a potential for increased production. Farmers have modest expectations of increased production, though. This outlook resonates with the strong integration of agriculture into the wider economy, at both micro and macro levels, making it challenging to implement new policies and change farm practices on a broad basis. Increases in some specific products, however, are realistic.     

Vacationers and the economic “double dip” in Europe

The subject of this study concerns individual vacationers' reactions to the global economic crisis. This crisis is lasting longer than expected, resulting in Europe in a “double dip”. Vacationers can use different strategies to cope with this crisis: from pruning (giving up the vacation) via cheese-slicing (economizing on vacation attributes) to non-economizing. Based on a theoretical framework, it was predicted that over time the pruning segment would become larger than the cheese-slicing segment. A longitudinal study in The Netherlands, covering 4 years, shows economic developments having a relatively minor effect on vacationers' holiday plans and intentions, with no increase in the size of the pruning segment. Six vacationer segments were found, three of which can be considered to be crisis-resistant. Each segment pursues different economizing strategies, with each requiring a customized marketing strategy. Five explanations are proposed for the relatively limited influence of the economic “double dip” on Dutch vacationers. Future research can be directed to comparing vacations with other consumer products, in order to explain the crisis-resistance of vacation planning during this economic crisis.     

Issues in measuring success in community-based Indigenous tourism: elites,kin groups,social capital,gender dynamics and income flows

Tourism development is a key feature of the neoliberal economic development model. Through a mix of state and private investment, Indigenous communities in Mexico are encouraged to transform local cultural and environmental resources into tourist consumption sites. The process results in a shift toward reliance on tourism, in place of farming, leaving households with few alternative earning strategies amidst fluctuating tourist arrivals and income, confounding the relationship between tourism and sustainability and questioning the utility of tourism as a sustainable tool for development. This article analyses a community-based Indigenous tourism project in a rural Maya village in Mexico's Yucatan, and discusses strategies employed at household level to navigate the arrival of tourism. Funding agencies assessed this project based on a triple bottom line metric that accounts for ecological health, financial sustainability, and its relationship to local social capital; however, these fail to account for differences between local and non-local conceptions of authenticity, indigeneity, and success. From a social perspective, the project has exacerbated existing tensions and has arguably widened the gap between the politically and economically powerful and less powerful, marginalized families in the community. Questions about policy, governance systems, and elite domination and kin group control are raised.     

Career Management Strategies of People With Disabilities

People with disabilities (PWD) tend to experience less career success than their counterparts without a disability, and their talent and skill remain underutilized. Disability literature also outlines various barriers to careers of PWD. Yet there are those who successfully manage their careers. Our aim in the present interview‐based study was to understand which strategies PWD engage in to manage their careers proactively. Findings indicate that strategies include maintaining a positive mind‐set; trouncing competence stereotypes by sensitizing people to their ability through learning and applying new skills, and by seeking feedback; engaging in disability advocacy to remove performance myths; and building, leveraging, and contributing to disability networks. We noted gender and tenure differences with regard to strategies employed. Findings imply that career objectives of PWD are not those traditionally expected or lauded by organizations, and motivations for career self‐management are unique to PWD as compared to those without a disability. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

我国商业银行体系脆弱性形成因素及应对策略

美国次贷危机引发的全球金融危机迅速蔓延,并对世界经济体系和金融体系造成严重损害。我国商业银行体系脆弱性现况明显,本文从我国国有银行的现况进行分析,然后对其原因进行分析。介绍了因子分析的思想及方法,然后运用因子分析模型进行了数据分析。最后提出防范国有商业银行脆弱性的对策和建议。     

城市经营者还是市场监管者？——市场波动下地方政府土地供给非对称行为研究

研究目的:分析市场监管激励对于地方政府土地供给决策的影响。研究方法:通过建立模型对市场监管激励的影响机制进行理论分析,并基于2004—2014年中国30个省的面板数据构建门限模型进行实证检验。研究结果:地方政府的土地供给决策同时受到经济绩效和市场监管双重激励的影响,在不同的市场波动下存在非对称性:在市场较平稳时,地方政府会通过减少土地供给、提升土地价格实现其经济绩效目标;而在市场波动较大时,地方政府则会兼顾"市场监管者"的职责,通过增加土地有效供应、维持土地价格实现其经济绩效目标。研究结论:市场监管激励在地方政府的土地供给决策机制中具有显著作用,可以通过加强政绩考核中市场监管的权重来规范地方政府的土地供给行为。     

Competition in the stock market with asymmetric information

We build a game theoretical model to examine how the level of information advantage of insiders and the competition between insiders and sophisticated investors affect stock price movements and traders’ trading strategies and profits. We show that the competition between insiders and sophisticated investors can reduce the losses of less sophisticated investors, and thus alleviates the disadvantaged position of the less sophisticated investors. Further, traders’ profits are affected by the accuracy of insiders’ private information, and the number of days that insiders have obtained the information in advance. These findings show the importance of information transparency and the role of sophisticated investors in limiting insiders’ trading advantages and mitigating the expropriation of investors by insiders.     

The role of talent-perception incongruence in effective talent management

This study examines the effect of talent management (TM) practices, differentiation strategies, and incongruent talent perceptions in terms of psychological-contract fulfillment. The outcomes of the quantitative analysis of 2660 respondents within 21 organizations show the importance of actively attending to talent-perception incongruence. Incongruence occurs in situations where the organization's executives perceive an individual as ‘talent’, but the individual is unaware of this, and also the other way around: the situation in which the organization's executives do not consider an individual as ‘talent’ while the individual believes that they do. Although the increased use of TM practices is related to higher psychological-contract fulfillment, this relationship is negatively affected by incongruent talent perceptions. Our results show the importance of clearly defining talent and communicating this clearly to all employees. This is particularly important when the talent strategy is perceived as exclusive rather than inclusive.