When less is more: the impact of macro and micro social media influencers’ disclosure

ABSTRACT

There are growing discussions of social media influencers and their effectiveness in endorsing products. Further, recent policy regulations are requiring social media influencers to disclose sponsored content when using a form of native advertising. This research examined the effect of macro-influencers (high likes) and micro-influencers (low likes) and their disclosure of native advertising sponsorship on consumer evaluations of products. Results from a 2 × 2 experiment first show that consumers exposed to the micro-influencer condition report higher levels of product knowledge, and consumers exposed to the disclosure condition reported the products endorsed by social media influencers to be more attractive. The results also show that when exposed to micro-influencers who disclose, consumers have higher levels of purchase intentions than when exposed to macro-influencers who do not disclose, as well as higher purchase intentions than for posts where sponsorship is not disclosed by influencers. The important findings of this research for theory, practice and policy are discussed.     

Tourists and researcher identities: critical considerations of collisions,collaborations and confluences in Svalbard

ABSTRACT

Svalbard is an “edge-of-the-world” hot spot for environmental change, political discourse, tourism and scientific research in the Anthropocene. Drawing on ethnographic and qualitative research, I use this context to critically explore the identity-categories of “researcher” and “tourist”. Through the lens of political ecology, I draw out the uneven power relations of knowledge production that are attached to these labels and their consequences for ongoing efforts for managing sustainable tourism. By considering the experiences of tourists, researchers and “scientific tourists”, both practically and from an embodied experiential perspective, I challenge the distinctions typically made between these roles. I bring to light several common aspects, goals and experiences these practices share. In doing so, I aim to disrupt the existing hierarchies of knowledge that champion an impersonal, rational scientific approach and call for a more varied array of knowledge and practices to be taken into account when considering the future ecologies of Svalbard and the broader Arctic region.     

Autonomy as a key resource for women in low gender egalitarian countries: A cross‐cultural examination

Relying on Conservation of Resources theory and a sample of 23,439 workers in 26 countries, we develop and test a multilevel moderated mediation of the effects of perceived job autonomy on work–life balance, engagement, and turnover intentions, depending on employee gender and country‐level gender egalitarianism (GE), and indirectly through stress. We find that perceived job autonomy relates to these outcomes indirectly through stress such that these effects are stronger for women in lower GE countries compared with women in higher GE countries and are not significant for men. Practical implications for engaging and retaining global female talent are discussed.     

Do emerging markets with consistent returns have better future performance?

Using monthly data for 25 emerging markets around the world, it is found that emerging markets with recently consistent stock returns tend to have future returns that continue in the same direction. The effects are long-lived for negative consistency, and imply that capital flows are much more sensitive to market downturns than market upturns. Additionally, the longer a market has had consistently negative (positive) stock returns, the more negative (positive) are future returns. These results serve as confirmation that the consistency effects of Grinblatt and Moskowitz [J. Finan. Econ., 2004 Grinblatt, M and Moskowitz, T. 2004. Predicting stock price movements from the pattern of past returns. J. Finan. Econ., 71: 541–579. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], forthcoming] and Watkins [J. Behav. Finan., 2003 Watkins, B. 2003. Riding the wave of investor sentiment: an analysis of consistency as a predictor of future stock returns. J. Behav. Finan., 4: 1–32.  [Google Scholar], 4, 1–32] exist in emerging markets around the world.     

Property rights out of anarchy? The Demsetz hypothesis in a game of conflict

The Demsetz hypothesis states that secure claims to property arise when the value of creating those rights is sufficiently high. This paper examines the conditions under which this holds in an anarchy equilibrium in which players may allocate labor to production, to conflict, or to the public good of secure claims to property protection. In a simultaneous choice Nash equilibrium, no secure claims to property are created. However, if players play a sequential choice game in which secure claims to property protection occurs in the first stage, then the strategic benefit of reducing others’ subsequent conflict allocation causes secure claims to property to arise. Secure claims to property in a social contract are imperfect, but for sufficiently high productivity of resources, the social contract welfare dominates autocracy.     

Conflict of Interest in Policing and the Public Sector

Abstract

Conflicts of interest are a key factor in the contemporary decline of trust in government and public institutions, eroding public trust in government and democratic systems. Drawing on two unique empirical studies involving policing and the broader public sector, this paper explores the meaning and dimensions of conflict of interest by examining public complaints about conflict of interest and providing distinctive insights into the nature of conflict of interest as a problem for public sector ethics. The paper analyses and explores appropriate regulatory and management approaches for conflict of interest, focusing on three elements: (1) dealing with private interests that are identifiably problematic in the way they clash with the duties of public officials; (2) managing conflicts as they arise in the course of public sector work (manifested in preferential and adverse treatment, and other problematic areas); and (3) developing ethical and accountable organisational cultures. It is concluded that effective and meaningful public sector ethics in the pursuit of the public interest must be based on an ethos of social accountability and a commitment to prioritise the public interest in both fact and appearance.     

Comparing cases: studies of commitment systems in Australia and the United States

Using the experiences of PhD research which employed a comparative case study methodology to study industrial relations and commitment systems at brownfield and greenfield sites in Australia and the United States, this paper discusses the issues and challenges that may confront a student undertaking research of this type. It argues that while the original research questions and proposed methodology may, frustratingly, need to change during the course of the research, this can ultimately provide for a richer study and better results. The paper outlines the stages of the case study research and the complexities of combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. In conclusion, the paper briefly summarises the research findings to demonstrate the benefits of long-term, organisationally based case studies.     

The role of leaders in generating management innovation†

Abstract

This study provides an empirical insight into the level of management innovation in Australian service organisations, conceptualising management innovation using an integrative framework of management innovation which encompasses four dimensions, new managerial practices, processes, structures and techniques. In addition, the study contributes to the contingency-based literature by examining the role of leaders, in respect to both leadership style (initiating and consideration styles) and the use of controls (diagnostic and interactive use), as drivers of management innovation. Data were collected through a mail questionnaire distributed to 445 middle level managers. The findings show that leadership style influences management innovation with a more initiating style associated with the extent of use of new managerial techniques. Management innovation was also influenced by the use of controls with a more interactive (diagnostic) approach associated with the extent of use of new managerial processes and techniques (practices and structure). In line with the Competing Values Framework, the findings highlight the tension involved in the role of leaders in generating management innovation.