What constitutes a constitutional amendment culture?

Why are some constitutions amended frequently and others hardly at all? An obvious candidate determinant is constitutional rigidity, i.e., the size and number of procedural barriers to amendment. Given some demand for amendment, greater rigidity implies a smaller supply. However, measures of rigidity often do not correlate significantly (or even with the predicted sign) with amendment rates. Ginsburg and Melton (2015) argue that amendment culture – “shared attitudes about the desirability of amendment” – is a more important determinant of amendment rates. We study up to 128 constitutional episodes from 54 countries and estimate relationships between amendment rates and Hofstede cultural indices. Cultures that are more individualistic and less prone to uncertainty avoidance are associated with higher amendment rates. When cultural dimensions are controlled for, the lagged amendment rate (Ginsburg and Melton’s proxy for culture) is not a robust correlate.     

Religious belief and international business negotiations: Does faith influence negotiator behaviour?

Religious observance is widespread and continues to influence managerial behaviour in many parts of the world. However, its role in international business negotiations has not received much scholarly attention. This study explores some of the key ways in which religious belief shapes negotiation behaviour. Focusing specifically on the Islamic context, and drawing on interviews with 27 religiously observant Muslim managers in Malaysia, the study found that commitment to a common religion among negotiators positively influenced certain components of the negotiation process through, for example, the use of religious/emotional appeal, which emphasised their ‘spiritual camaraderie’. In some instances, however, we observed something of a paradox, whereby differing religious beliefs among negotiating counterparts were claimed to actually enhance, rather than hinder, negotiations.     

以“合”为贵？合作文化与企业创新

本文以2006-2015年沪深A股非金融上市公司为样本,基于上市公司网站对于企业文化的叙述和年报董事会报告两份本文,采用文本分析方法,构建两个度量企业合作文化强弱的指标,并研究企业合作文化对企业创新产出和创新效率的影响。研究发现,企业文化越强调合作,企业的创新产出越多,创新效率越高。这一结论在采用增加控制变量、利用水稻播种面积作为工具变量以及以董事长的非正常离职事件为冲击进行PSM-DID等多种方法后仍然稳健。渠道检验的结果显示,合作文化是通过提高企业内部员工的凝聚力和促进企业的“产学研”合作这两种渠道来促进企业创新。进一步的研究表明,合作文化的促进作用在竞争性行业以及地区信任程度和产业集群程度较高的地区中尤为显著。本文不仅从微观层面揭示企业文化对公司财务行为的影响机理,丰富和补充了当前方兴未艾的“文化与金融”研究,而且为国家制定建设社会主义文化强国的方针战略提供理论基础和实证支持。     

地区关系文化与企业创新

作为中国文化的重要组成部分，关系文化在制度改革进程中，促进了体制约束或资源匮乏背景下的企业创新行为。然而，浓重的地区关系文化犹如无形的制度牢笼，束缚着企业创新活动。利用中国内地120个城市工业企业数据，实证考察了地区关系文化对企业创新的影响。结果显示，地区关系文化对企业创新具有显著促进作用。随着地区关系文化的发展，企业创新活动将受到抑制，两者呈现显著倒“U”型关系。进一步研究表明，地区关系文化对企业创新的倒U型效应仅在规模较大的企业中显著；相较于国有企业，该效应在非国有企业样本中更显著；企业是否属于高技术行业则对两者关系无实质性影响。     

高速铁路安全文化理论体系研究

高速铁路安全文化建设是实现高速铁路系统安全的必由之路。为了进一步明确安全文化在高速铁路运营安全保障中的作用,厘清高速铁路安全文化建设的思路与途径,在深入剖析安全文化建设的必要性的基础上,研究安全文化建设的发展阶段,明确每个阶段的划分依据与特点,探讨高速铁路安全文化体系与技术体系、管理体系的关系,对高速铁路安全文化建设要点进行探究,并从高速铁路安全文化基础理论、高速铁路安全文化专业理论、高速铁路安全文化应用理论3个层面对高速铁路安全文化理论体系进行分析,为高速铁路安全文化建设和水平测度提供理论基础。     

Beyond merger syndrome and cultural differences: New avenues for research on the “human side” of global mergers and acquisitions (M&As)

This paper focuses on research on the “human side” of global mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We argue that there is a need for a more fine-grained understanding of the “human side,” which requires conceptualizing M&As as practice-oriented processes. Drawing on the practice approach, we outline avenues for further research on the “human side” of global M&As. The research directions include (1) multilayered identity dynamics, (2) emotional processes, (3) participation and change agency, (4) resistance, (5) human resource management (HRM) practices and tools, and (6) new forms of communication.     

Impact of shared history on customers’ service evaluations

This paper investigates how shared history affects customers' cultural and personal values and impacts their perception of services’ responsiveness and satisfaction in a high-contact service setting (retail banking) from two countries with a shared history (France & Lebanon). Data were collected from 171 French and 141 Lebanese bank customers. Findings reveal that both cultural and personal values moderate the relationship between responsiveness and satisfaction, and that their impact is independent of each other. Further, findings show that in countries with a shared history, existing cultural models in literature may not be detailed enough to explain cross-cultural differences and similarities.     

Culture,financial crisis and the demand for property,accident and health insurance in the OECD countries

Culture has been known to play an important role in explaining differences in consumption behaviour across countries. Yet, we know very little how it affects spending on non-life insurance products. This paper attempts to shed some light on how cultural characteristics impact the demand for property, accident and health insurance, focusing on the OECD countries in the period 2000–2017. We find, via the system generalized method of moment estimations, that cultural characteristics such as individualism, long-term orientation, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance were the drivers of the expenditure on property insurance, whereas long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance and hypometropia explained accident and health insurance spending across the OECD countries. In the presence of the global financial crisis, cultural effects on property insurance spending turned out to be relatively minor, with the exception of individualism. These findings provide valuable information for non-life insurance companies, consumers and policy makers in the OECD countries.     

The Role of National Culture in International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption

Prior research shows that the development of national accounting systems follows different patterns in different countries over the world. This was recently supported by the staggered manner in which countries adopt IFRS. Extant evidence shows that IFRS adoption decisions at the country level are determined by institutional and economic factors. In this context, cultural factors have not been considered. This paper examines the relationship between five cultural dimensions and countries’ decisions to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) around the world during the period 2003-2014. We find that countries with higher levels of uncertainty avoidance are more likely to adopt IFRS. Additionally, they are more likely to commit to early adoption largely on a mandatory rather than voluntary basis. On the other hand, countries with higher values of masculinity are more likely to adopt IFRS early, but the extent (whether voluntary or mandatory adoption) of adoption is not significantly related to masculinity. Finally, we show that countries with higher power distance (long-term orientation) are more (less) likely to adopt IFRS on a mandatory basis. The results are in line with Gray’s theory of cultural influence and suggest that differences in national culture had a significant role in countries’ reaction to the introduction of IFRS as a set of unified accounting standards targeting the harmonization of accounting standards adopted across different jurisdictions.     

土豆红豆鱼香肠的研制

鱼香肠是以鱼肉为主要原料灌制的香肠。它营养丰富、味道鲜美、风味独特,深受广大消费者喜爱,尤其是老人和儿童。鱼香肠的优点是有外包衣(畜肠衣或塑肠衣)使鱼肉与外界隔绝,流通方便,卫生条件较好,加工后可长期保存。本文通过正交实验,探讨土豆和红豆添加量对鱼肉香肠感官质量的影响,逐步确定土豆和红豆的最优添加量,最终确定了新型鱼香肠最优配比为:以鱼肉质量计,土豆添加量:37%,红豆添加量:38%,畜肉添加量:15%,板油添加量:7.5%,淀粉添加量:5.6%,精盐添加量:2.25%,咖喱粉添加量:0.43%,胡椒粉添加量:0.06%,味精添加量:0.2%。