Job satisfaction in aging workforces: an analysis of the USA,Japan and Germany

In light of the dramatically aging workforces in many industrialized countries, age diversity management will become a major challenge in human resource management. To successfully handle an age-diverse workforce, it is crucial to understand how employees of different ages can be motivated. This paper analyzes age's moderating role in the relationship between situational job characteristics and job satisfaction. To control for the potential influence of the cultural and institutional context, we use data from the USA, Japan and Germany. Findings show that older employees' job satisfaction is driven by different factors than younger employees: older employees put more emphasis on good relationships with colleagues, while income, advancement opportunities, job security and having an interesting job are less important. However, these effects are mostly nation-dependent, which underlines the importance of conducting cross-cultural or cross-national aging research.     

嵌入性创新网络与科技型小微企业创新绩效:网络能力中介效应研究

科技型小微企业嵌入于创新网络中,通过自主性发挥网络构建与管理能力,进一步分享创新网络资源,提高创新实力。基于中国软件谷(南京)及相关创业孵化园246家软件企业问卷调查结果,运用SPSS、LISREL软件进行统计分析,实证研究网络能力对嵌入性创新网络与科技型小微企业创新绩效的中介效应。结果表明:(1)嵌入性创新网络稳定性有利于科技型小微企业创新绩效的提升;(2)嵌入性创新网络强度越大,科技型小微企业网络能力越强;(3)科技型小微企业网络能力越强,创新绩效提升越明显;(4)科技型小微企网络能力有助于促进嵌入性创新网络对创新绩效的提升作用。     

西部大开发对西部地区碳排放演变的影响

西部大开发后西部地区经济增长加快、人民生活水平提高，但产业结构、技术水平以及生态环境质量却并未表现出同等程度的改善或提升。采用30个样本省份1995—2011年的面板数据，运用双重差分法进行分析，结果发现：西部大开发在促进西部地区经济增长以及地区经济趋同的同时，也使得西部地区的碳排放（尤其是人均碳排放）与其他地区相比增长更快，与此同时，西部地区与碳排放相关的因素和条件（如产业结构、技术水平、市场化程度等）未得到显著改善。在既有的资源禀赋、发展阶段、产业结构以及经济发展方式下，西部大开发初期着力于固定资产投资和资源、能源开发，忽视教育事业、市场化改革、技术创新等软环境建设，导致西部地区在经济增长的同时碳排放相对增加。因此，在今后的西部大开发规划中，应当着力于转变经济发展方式，加强软环境建设，重视人力资本积累和技术创新，提升市场化水平，才能在发展地区经济的同时实现节能减排。     

The influence of restaurant co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence on employees’ turnover intentions: The mediating role of job attitudes

The current study examines the influence of co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence on employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions in a casual dining restaurant setting. The warmth and competence dimensions represent two fundamental social dimensions that people often use to evaluate other individuals or groups. The current findings determined that co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence had significant effects on employees’ job satisfaction, which in turn improved their organizational commitment.Furthermore, job satisfaction and organizational commitment mediated the relationships between co-workers’ perceived warmth and competence and employees’ turnover intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Venturing into the unknown: Blogs as a means of advancing leadership skills

The author describes a theoretically eclectic exploratory assignment that helped students in a managerial communication class practice and advance a comprehensive range of leadership skills. Specifically, the author combined E. M. Eisenberg, L. H. Goodall, and A. Tretheway's (2014) model of leadership with pertinent concepts from the theory of learning and used blogs as the communication medium. The outcome was very positive. Students practiced and advanced a range of cognitive, ethical, and communication skills.     

Hospitality and tourism student and alumni perspectives: promotion expectations,academic and experience adjustments,and career growth

Preparing qualified graduates for the tourism and hospitality industry who will stay and achieve promotional success is paramount. The objectives of this research project were to determine promotional advancement expectations and strategies to improve promotional opportunities. Two separate questionnaires, with both open and close-ended questions, were sent to upper classmen/women in hospitality and tourism programs and alumni of the same programs. In total, 717 (409 students and 308 alumni) completed the questionnaires. Chi-square tests were run to determine differences between student and alumni responses. To assist in analysis of open-ended responses, Atlas.ti was used. There was a statistically significant difference between students and alumni responses in regards to promotional expectations; students expected it to take a significantly longer time to receive a promotion to supervisor or manager than alumni. Overall, students and alumni indicated strategies such as more real-world-focused courses with hands-on experiences.     

Ripple Effects of CEO Awards: Investigating the Acquisition Activities of Superstar CEOs' Competitors

Research summary : This study proposes that CEOs may undertake intensive acquisition activities to increase their social recognition and status after witnessing their competitors' winning CEO awards. Using a sample of U.S. S&P 1,500 firm CEOs, we find that CEOs engage in more intensive acquisition activities in the period after their competitors won CEO awards (i.e., postaward period), compared to the preaward period. Moreover, this effect is stronger when focal CEOs themselves had a high likelihood of winning CEO awards. Our findings also show that acquisitions by focal CEO firms in the postaward period realize lower announcement returns compared to acquisitions by the same CEOs in the preaward period. Managerial summary : Each year a few CEOs receive CEO awards from business media and CEOs who receive such awards become instant celebrities, that is, superstar CEOs. This study explores how superstar CEOs' competitors react to not winning CEO awards. We find that superstar CEOs' competitors undertake more intensive acquisition activities in the postaward period compared to the preaward period. This is particularly true for competitors who were close, yet did not win CEO awards. In addition, acquisitions by superstar CEOs' competitors are associated with lower announcement returns in the postaward compared to the preaward period. These findings collectively indicate that acquisitions may be used as a channel for superstar CEOs' competitors to elevate their own social status, but at a cost to shareholders. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

科普翻译对中国百年时代精神的构建

我国科普翻译的百年史表明,在不同历史时期,科普翻译确实对时代精神的构建发挥了顺应、推动、改进、引领、主导的作用.当今构建时代精神,仍然需要科普翻译来助力.为了更好地构建时代精神,人们需要充分发挥创造性,用更多样的翻译方法来译介各类体裁的科普文本,并通过多元的渠道将科技知识传播给大众.     

European farmers and participatory rural appraisal: A systematic literature review on experiences to optimize rural development

Farmers are those who daily supervise and manage rural areas, but still their collaborations with those institutions entitled to decide the transformation of these territories are not managed properly. The experiences of participatory processes with the involvement of farmers are analyzed in many agricultural studies. A systematic review has allowed us to analyse experiences related to 35 participation paths aimed at rural regions’ development. The analysis has been made on the basis of 14 variables describing the path followed and its purpose, the agricultural holding involved and the areas surveyed.The work has the objectives to identify some strengths and weaknesses in the involvement of farmers in decision-making and the strengths and weaknesses of the processes themselves. The review has shown that too often in participatory processes farmers are considered only as a source of information to be used by researchers rather than as active participants in the choices for the protection, management and transformation of the rural territory. An effective participatory rural appraisal requires greater empowerment of farmers. In general, compared to the methods and tools used, farmers are wary of paths that are too complex and prefer the use of low-tech tools. This result can be attributed to the farmers’ demand of direct contact with the researchers to build trust and also to the average age of European farmers, which is pretty high.In participation contexts, it is not possible to establish standardized methods and tools, because each process should be tailored for the community that expresses it. Nevertheless, the work has highlighted the need to establish some minimum principles to avoid considering unsuccessful some participation paths which, in reality, have been only scarcely participated. In the work, these principles have been presented through the development of key questions, to which those who design the path for an effective engagement of agricultural stakeholder must respond: representativeness, empowerment, empirical knowledge, relationships, group type, numerosity and involvement stage.     

构建高校健美操课程数字化教学模式的研究

通过对宁波市高校健美操课程教学现状的调查分析,可以发现目前高校普遍采取的传统选项课教学模式存在诸多的不足之处,由此提出构建高校健美操课程数字化教学模式的可行性建议.