E-Shopping Patterns of Chinese and US Millennials

A conceptually based taxonomy of 22 distinct forms of e-shopping vehicles is proposed. A modification of the UTAUT and UTAUT2 models is introduced to explain how vehicles are interrelated in regard to consumer reliance upon them for their e-purchasing. A survey of over 1,000 millennial university students, 697 Chinese and 306 US, revealed strong support in both samples for the hypothesized six dimensional pattern underlying consumer vehicular reliance. Further, differences between Chinese and US samples lay not in the nature of the dimensions, but rather in the strength of reliance upon each dimension. Thus, the study demonstrates the utility of the concept/measure of shopper vehicular reliance, VPR (Vehicle Purchasing Reliance) for both practitioners and scientists. In cross-national comparisons, observed differences between samples in strength of reliance supported four of five hypotheses predicated on previously established national distinctions a) in trust and b) in the cultural value of individualism-collectivism.     

Impacts of urban renewal on the place identity of local residents – a case study of Sunwenxilu traditional commercial street in Zhongshan City,Guangdong Province,China

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the impacts of urban renewal on local residents’ place identity by examining the changes in local residents’ place identity in Sunwenxilu, a traditional commercial street in downtown Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China, which carried out urban renewal relatively early in modern China. Applying Breakwell’s [(2015). Risk: Social psychological perspectives. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Elsevier] identity process model and using the renewal process as a starting point, data concerning local residents’ place identity in Sunwenxilu were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and literature analysis. The results reveal that local residents had established a strong place identity on Sunwenxilu before it changed to be a community of “incompetents” in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, Sunwenxilu was transformed into a cultural tourism pedestrian street. Right after the transformation, local residents regained their self-esteem with the improvement of the physical environment and intensification of cultural symbols, and re-established their place continuity by maintaining their collective memories. However, a failure to improve the local residents’ self-efficiency of place during the “superficial” renewal had resulted in vulnerability of the local residents’ place identity in terms of self-esteem, continuity and distinctiveness, thus causing another crisis of place identity. Obviously, the construction of place identity results from the interaction of all elements, so too much emphasis on only one element may trigger a new identity crisis.     

Perceptions of determinants of job selection in the hospitality and tourism industry: The case of Korean university students

ABSTRACT

This study explores the key factors influencing potential employees in the hospitality and tourism industry and examines whether causal relationships between behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence students' job selection. The study suggests that the career decision-making process is related to job selection. A total of 307 responses were analyzed. The results explain individual students' attitudes toward a behavior and perceived behavioral control in the context of their job selection. Attitudes toward a behavior and job selection had significant effects on career decisions. On the other hand, opinions of significant others had no significant effect. Perceived behaviors required to decide on jobs had a significant effect on job selection intentions. Students with internship experience were likely to form positive attitudes toward the hospitality and tourism industry, suggesting internships to be a useful source of a stronger relationship between the industry and job aptitudes of students in hospitality and tourism programs. The results have important implications.     

基于云计算的民族地区高校教育信息化平台建设研究——以贵州省为例

教育信息化程度成为了国家教育现代化程度的风向标,本文以"云计算"技术为抓手,从教育工作的流程出发,设计教育资源及教育管理两个平台。通过两个云平台的建设,夯实智慧教育基础,为智慧教育的应用开发提供强有力地保障。     

政府行为对风险投资回报率影响研究

国际上西方主流观点认为,风险投资最好是由民间资本为主,政府不应该操纵风险投资,而中国现在的风险投资大多是由政府主导的资金对政府感兴趣的公司进行投资,风投公司大多是政府主导建立的,民营上市公司参与风投的比例较低,民间资本创立的风投机构更是少之又少。而通过对四类风险投资公司的分析,初步探究出中国政府应该:第一,转变政府在风险投资中的干预职能和行为方式,放宽进入门槛,建成风险投资的多元性投资主体。第二,要利用其所掌握的管理权资源和政策制度引导,通过适当的政府行为选择指引,将大部分精力放在风险投资需要的外部环境建设、制度的制定与完善上。第三,提升政府在风险投资发展中的决策水平。政府应根据风险投资运行的本质规律,建立科学的经济决策程序和决策体系。     

高绩效工作系统、工作倦怠对员工离职倾向的影响研究

本文基于员工感知的视角，以工作倦怠作为中介变量，探索员工感知的高绩效工作系统对离职倾向的影响机制。通过来自企业256 个有效样本的实证研究发现，员工感知的高绩效工作系统与离职倾向显著负相关；工作倦怠及其子维度情感耗竭、玩世不恭与离职倾向显著正相关，而子维度成就感低落与离职倾向相关性不显著；工作倦怠在员工感知的高绩效工作系统与离职倾向之间起部分中介作用；员工感知的高绩效工作系统可通过影响员工的情感耗竭、玩世不恭情绪，间接对离职倾向产生影响，而成就感低落的中介效应不显著。     

Effective and equitable supply of gasoline to impacted areas in the aftermath of a natural disaster

The focus of this research is on supplying gasoline after a natural disaster. There are two aspects for this work: determination of which gas stations should be provided with generators (among those that do not have electric power) and determination of a delivery scheme that accounts for increased demand due to lack of public transportation and considerations such as equity. We develop a mixed integer program for this situation. Two case studies based on Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey are developed and solved in CPLEX. As expected, increasing equity increases cost and also tends to place generators to stations with large initial inventories. It is further observed that CPLEX can solve the largest instances of the problem for a 5% tolerance gap, indicating that the model is efficient.     

The Impact of Multilateral Trade Liberalisation on Economic Development: Some Empirical Evidence

This article examines the impact of multilateral trade policy liberalisation on countries' levels of economic development, proxied by their real per capita income. The study is particularly relevant in the current context of growing rhetoric against international trade, which could fuel domestic protectionism and would likely undermine multilateral trade liberalisation. The analysis has been conducted on a panel data set of 155 countries, over non‐overlapping four‐yearly sub‐periods during 1995–2014. The empirical results suggest strong support for the view that multilateral trade liberalisation promotes economic development. Hence, the rise in unilateral protectionist trade measures around the world would likely endanger the prospects of further multilateral trade liberalisation and ultimately undermine countries' prospects of economic development.     

AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN DIFFERENCES IN ECONOMIC GROWTH: A STOCHASTIC FRONTIER APPROACH

Total factor productivity (TFP), factor accumulation, and growth are analysed for a panel of 40 countries in 2001–11. TFP growth and technical inefficiency are estimated using a stochastic frontier model. Environmental variables are found to have an important role in explaining differences in inefficiency across countries. Over 2001–11, the general improvement in technical efficiency of countries is almost outweighed by technological regress. Results indicate that differences in factor accumulation between OECD and emerging economies are more important than differences in TFP change to explain differences in economic growth. Results also indicate negative and significant random shocks for the OECD countries.     

Students' persistent preconceptions and learning economic principles

Economic views held by the general public tend to differ significantly from those of economic experts. Would these differences fade away if people were exposed to some economic instruction? In this article, the authors identify college students' preconceptions about economic issues at the beginning of the semester, verify their persistence throughout the semester, and test whether their beliefs are correlated to course performance. The authors conduct a survey at the beginning and end of the semester on a sample of first-year students taking an economic principles course. They find evidence of preconception persistence and reasoning inconsistencies, pointing to some cognitive biases as a plausible cause. Most students do not integrate the newly learned tools into their thinking process, even if they perform well in tests.