The role of relationship quality in raising organizational change acceptance: The case of the Greek hotel industry

This study examines whether the quality of an employee's relationships, within the context of the hotel industry, has an influence on their behavioral intention towards organizational change. The researchers suggest that the quality of relationships is an important element of an individual's social capital and can be evaluated using five key dimensions: the extent to which relationships are tangible, responsive and reliable, as well as the extent to which they offer empathy and assurance. Furthermore, this research examines whether organizational commitment and job satisfaction have an effect on the association between relationship quality and an individual's behavioral intention towards organizational change. The data collected from a sample of 100 hotel employees in Thessaloniki, Greece, show that relationship quality has a positive association with an individual's behavioral intention towards change. Additional results highlight the roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment as mediating variables. Managerial implications relevant to the findings and pathways for further research are also discussed.     

微时代高等职业院校教育主体社交平台话语权建构必要性研究

微时代是以微博、微信等社交平台为代表的新时代。高职院校教育主体与受教育主体面对社交平台的新型话语体系,展现出不同的话语特征。教育主体只有进行话语权的体系建构,才能帮助学生形成正确认知、树立正确的价值观念,真正培养具有坚定信念和国际视野的高端技术技能人才。     

Using pre-commitment to reduce alcohol consumption: Lessons from a quasi-experiment in Thailand

Based on primary data of 453 drinkers in Thailand, this study investigates the impact of pre-commitment on alcohol consumption. It exploits the quasi-experimental nature of a social marketing campaign in Thailand implemented in 2014, where all drinkers were able to publicly pledge temporary alcohol abstention, and some but not all drinkers were provided with community-based health promotion interventions conducted by local residents. This study argues that the campaign had a pre-commitment device implicitly integrated into it; failures to follow through with the commitment were associated with mental costs of social embarrassment and weaker relationships with one's local social networks. Using a joint estimation method where the decision to pre-commit is explicitly endogenized, this study suggests that pre-commitment is effective in increasing the probabilities of temporary alcohol abstention and reduction.     

A study of government 2.0 implementation in Indonesia

Web 2.0 has brought innovations in digital government, namely, government 2.0. Social media, as one part of Web 2.0, could potentially support fuller participation and public interaction. Social media enjoys a very high level of acceptance by individual users and government agencies around the world. Web 2.0 and social media usage in the public sector still needs to be tested from the perspective of not only the government but also the community as the recipient of services. Therefore, this study aims to answer the following research questions: How effective has government 2.0 implementation been in Indonesia? Is there a correlation between e-government management and government 2.0 implementation? We adopted the sophistication index (SI) by Bonson et al. (2012) [1] to answer the first research questions. The SI examined the presence of Web 2.0 features and social media applications on these government institutions’ websites. As to answer the second research question, we conducted parametric statistical tests to assess how e-government implementation, based on the Indonesian E-Government Rating (PEGI) score, has influenced the effectiveness of government 2.0 use by government institutions in Indonesia. We observed the websites and social media accounts of 116 Indonesian government institutions. According to the evaluation of Web 2.0 and social media use, the average SI score is 42%. These results indicate that, in general, government institutions in Indonesia have used Web 2.0 and social media features, although the adoption rate has not been equal. The correlations between the PEGI scores and SI values also suggest a positive relationship between the effectiveness of e-government implementation and the effectiveness of government institutions. Therefore, government institutions that have been effective in implementing e-government have also been effective in implementing government 2.0.     

Primary-school class composition and the development of social capital

We study the development of social capital through adult civic engagement, in relation to social capital exposure having occurred during childhood based on experiences outside the family at primary school. We assume that the types of classmates in attendance at a child's school would have influenced her/his social capital. To identify the types of classmates, we take advantage of the heterogeneity in the ability levels of British primary-school classes during the 1960s. At that time, some schools were practicing a method of streaming, whereas others were not. Using British National Child Development data, we construct a single score of civic engagement and evaluate the effect on adult civic engagement of attending homogeneous-ability classes versus nonhomogeneous-ability classes and being in high-, average- or low-ability classes when enrolled in streamed schools. Our results show that children who were grouped in homogeneous-ability classes developed a lower interest in civic engagement than their peers who attended mixed-ability classes (nonstreamed schools). Moreover, among children who attended streamed schools, a lower attitude toward civic engagement was observed among low-ability students. Thus, streaming appears to be detrimental to social capital development, especially for low-ability individuals.     

投桃何以报李:企业内外部社会责任对管家行为的影响机制研究

当员工感知到企业的善行,即企业善待员工或是积极履行对外部利益相关者的责任,是否会激发员工"舍己为公"的行为倾向,使其为了保护组织长远利益而牺牲个人短期利益呢?本研究依据社会交换和社会认同理论,通过524份有效样本进行实证分析,探讨员工感知的企业社会责任对"舍己为公"的管家行为的作用机制。结果表明,员工感知的内部和外部企业社会责任均正向影响员工的管家行为。责任知觉和道德认同分别在员工感知的内部企业社会责任与管家行为、员工感知的外部企业社会责任与管家行为间起中介作用,且责任知觉和道德认同的中介作用没有显著差异。     

Considering the nuclear option: Hidden benefits and social costs of nuclear power in the U.S. since 1970

Although burning fossil fuels has environmental consequences, many countries have switched away from nuclear power in favor of fossil-fuel fired electricity production after incidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. This study estimates the substitution between nuclear and fossil-fuel fired electricity generation in the United States. Using an event-study framework, we leverage nuclear plant openings from 1970 to 1995 and forced nuclear plant outages from 1999 to 2014. Plant openings (nuclear outages) reduce (increase) monthly net coal-fired generation by approximately 200 GWh, implying a considerable reduction (increase) in emissions. We find that the substitution between nuclear and coal is not one-to-one, as has been assumed in prior literature. After establishing these stylized facts, we explore the potential underlying forces driving the observed substitution between coal and nuclear.     

‘Real without being concrete’: the ontology of public concern and its significance for the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF)

Abstract

Public concern is a pivotal notion in the risk perception, communication and management literature. It is, for example, a central concept with regard to the social amplification of risk, and as a justification for policy attention. Despite its ubiquity, the notion of public concern remains a ‘black box’ presenting a poorly understood state of affairs as a reified matter-of-fact. Paying attention to the deployment and metrics of public concern, and the work it is required to do, will enhance the power of approaches to understanding risk, and policymaking. Thus, the broad purpose of this paper is to unpack the notion of public concern by adopting an ontological yet critical perspective, drawing on a range of literature that considers ontology. We reflect on how publics and public concern have been conceptualised with regard to the dichotomies of individual/social and private/public, given that they imply different levels and dimensions of concern. We draw on empirical work that illuminates the assessment and measurement of public concern and how the public have responded to risk events. Considering public concern through an ontological lens affords a means of drawing renewed critical attention to objects that might otherwise appear finished or ready-made.     

Personality traits,basic individual values and GMO risk perception of twitter users

Abstract

The present study investigates how the most foundational factors to individual differences – personality traits and personal values – affect the perceived safety of genetic modification and their relative importance. Publicly available communication data from 522 Twitter accounts discussing genetically modified foods and their safety was processed in two steps. First, accounts were categorized by the researchers as viewing GM foods as either safe or not safe. Second, using the IBM Watson platform, the Twitter communication data were subjected to lexical analysis to assign scores according to the Five Factor Model for personality traits and Schwartz’s basic individual values to the individual accounts. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine how perceived GM food safety is linked to personality traits and individual values. Although both traits and values significantly contribute to explaining GM attitudes, personality traits strongly moderate the effect of individual values on risk perception.     

Does Investor Sentiment Affect the Value Relevance of Accounting Information?

We investigate whether investor sentiment affects the relationships between accounting variables and contemporaneous stock returns. Using price-relevant accounting variables identified by Chen and Zhang (2007) and the investor sentiment index constructed by Baker and Wurgler (2006), we find that the value relevance of accounting variables is collectively lower in high sentiment periods than in low sentiment periods. More importantly, earnings yield appears to be more related to contemporaneous stock returns in high sentiment periods, while other accounting variables are more related to stock returns in low sentiment periods. The effect of investor sentiment on the value relevance of accounting information is stronger for firms that are more difficult to value and to arbitrage.