Cross-national differences in stakeholder management: Applying institutional theory and comparative capitalism framework

Drawing upon the research in institutional theory and comparative capitalism, the present study investigates how cross-national differences in the political, business, and economic institutional contexts of the United States, Italy, and Japan are associated with the ways in which companies in each of these countries prioritize and engage in their stakeholder engagement activities (SEAs). Using Porter and Kramer's framework, which classifies corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as falling into four categories (good citizenship, mitigating harm from value chain, transforming value chain activities, and strategic philanthropy), we investigate how companies in the United States, Japan, and Italy prioritize and engage in these four SEAs. An analysis of data collected from 340 companies across these countries reveals that while companies in each of these three countries undertake the four types of SEAs, the prioritization and prevalence of the four types of SEAs vary from one country to the other, in ways that align with the prevailing institutional contexts of each country. The results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of why and how companies' approaches to CSR differ across countries. From a practitioner's perspective, the findings highlight the cultural specificity of CSR, implying that despite the global nature of CSR, the implementation of CSR needs to be tailored to a country's context.     

Visitors with their ‘Backs to the archaeology’: religious tourism and archaeology

This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the crossover between religious tourism and archaeology. It begins with a clarification of what religious tourism is and continues to consider the link between archaeological sites, religious heritage and religious tourism. It then moves on to a supply-focused typology of sites and a typology of visitors according to their characteristics. It also discusses the primary conflicts existing today between archaeology and religious tourism. In light of this discussion, it concludes with thoughts on possible future research needs. The paper conceptualized the multiple relationships between religious tourism and religious archaeology. Archaeological remains that also serve as attractions for religious tourism appear to have unique characteristics, the understanding of which is important for long-term planning and development that will take into consideration archaeological, religious, political, and tourism needs. A better understanding of these contexts may also ultimately contribute to our understanding of the development versus conservation arguments facing archaeological areas.     

Agency costs and tax planning when the government is a major Shareholder

In state owned enterprises (SOEs), taxes are a dividend to the controlling shareholder, the state, but a cost to other shareholders. We examine publicly traded firms in China and find significantly lower tax avoidance by SOEs relative to non-SOEs. The differences are pronounced for locally versus centrally-owned SOEs and during the year of SOE term performance evaluations. We link our results to managerial incentives through promotion tests, finding that higher SOE tax rates are associated with higher promotion frequencies of SOE managers. Our results suggest managerial incentives and tax reporting are conditional on the ownership structure of the firm.     

国土空间用途的权衡决策方法研究

研究目的:探索国土空间用途冲突协调路径,为中国"多规合一"及国土空间规划提供理论与方法指导。研究方法:在分析冲突根源的基础上建立国土空间权衡决策模型,构建"战略理性+技术理性+沟通理性"的国土空间权衡决策模式,并以丰县为例开展实证研究。研究结果:(1)国土空间利用的冲突本质上是利益相关者之间的利益冲突,只有利益权衡,没有利益优化;(2)国土空间权衡决策准则、国土空间价值评估、价值权衡和沟通定权共同组成国土空间权衡决策模式;(3)实证研究表明:经济发展战略下丰县镇村、农业、生态空间占比分别为18.51%、74.20%、7.29%,粮食安全战略下占比分别为16.07%、76.66%、7.27%,生态文明战略下占比分别为17.88%、69.06%、13.06%,权衡结果较合理。研究结论:国土空间权衡决策受国家战略驱动、以沟通为基础、以技术为手段,可有效解决国土空间用途冲突问题。     

How individualism–collectivism influences consumer responses to the sharing economy: Consociality and promotional type

With the explosion of online exchange of products, the sharing economy is experiencing ever-increasing growth. Despite the increasing popularity of lateral exchange market platforms as part of the sharing economy, research has not yet adequately investigated cultural effects on how consumers’ intentions to purchase products on these platforms. Using two studies, this paper examines whether consumers high in individualism versus consumers high in collectivism respond differently to platforms with low versus high consociality and how individualistic and collectivistic consumers respond differently to two types of promotions that relate to self-maximization. Findings in Study 1 indicated that consumers high in individualism (collectivism) have higher patronage intentions toward a platform low (high) in consociality. Findings in Study 2 suggested that in the presence of a promotion, collectivistic consumers respond comparably to promotional types across platforms, whereas individualistic consumers respond more positively to collective (individual) promotions when consociality is low (high). Further, felt commitment to others as a result of the consociality/promotional type relationship explains these effects. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

跨文化背景下商业广告设计的视觉元素关注度研究——以餐饮类平面广告为例

本文以餐饮类平面广告为实验材料,研究了中国和美国被试者对平面广告中的图形、色彩、文字、编排及构图等视觉元素的关注度。本研究从文化认知理论出发,以文化认知差异为前提,探寻了东西方族群对商业广告中出现的视觉信息的不同处理方式。以商业广告中视觉设计的原则为标准,解构了平面广告设计中的视觉构成元素并进行一一比较,得出商业平面广告设计中中美两国被试者的视觉元素关注度差异。最终获取了各种视觉元素的评估结果和相对权重,形成了商业图形广告设计元素关注度的先后顺序。这一实验结果对跨文化认知心理理论在跨国广告设计中的应用有借鉴和启发作用,可以为跨国公司和设计师提供技术指导,设计出更符合消费者需求的商业广告。     

Work-home interface in a cross-cultural context: a framework for future research and practice

Abstract

With dual-income families on the increase, combining work and family obligations is a daily reality for many individuals. Unsatisfactory combinations of work and home duties can result in various unfavourable individual and organisational outcomes. Therefore, its proper understanding is essential in order to create adequate recommendations for interventions and prevention. There is a need for the development of theoretical frameworks that take cultural context into account in relation to work-home interface (WHI). In this paper a new framework is proposed; ‘the pyramid of intersecting domains of WHI’ that incorporates cultural context and other important work-life interface aspects. It builds on empirical findings of the intersectionality and work/family border theories. The pyramid consists of the following domains: the domain of work and home characteristics, the roles domain and the cultural domain, which intersect to determine the fourth side of the pyramid, that is, the observed WHI. Based on the pyramid several research propositions can be formulated. Implications for researchers and HR professionals are provided.     

导游实践中的跨文化交流

导游员是旅游业的灵魂,在旅游产品转化为旅游消费的过程起着至关重要的作用。由于游客来源与背景等文化差异,这一转化过程受到不同文化因素的制约,而跨文化交流意识的养成与跨文化交流技巧的运用是使这一转化顺利实现必不可少的一种手段。在导游实践中,合理运用跨文化交流知识与技巧,将有助于实现旅游产业的最优化,促进和谐的导游与游客的关系。     

An unsuitable job for a woman: a ‘native category’ approach to gender,diversity and cross-cultural management

This paper takes an ethnographic study of the recruitment of women at BMW MINI between 2003 and 2006 as the basis to explore the impact of the concepts of ‘native categories’ and ‘recontextualisation’ on diversity management and cross-cultural management. I consider how managers' and workers' subconsciously held cultural categories relating to gender and work affected efforts to increase the number of female line workers in the plant, and how these were further complicated by the recontextualisation of German native categories in a British context. In doing so, this paper will develop a better understanding of the way native categories affect management and international business, provide an addition to the literature on recontextualisation, by introducing the concept of ‘native categories’ to research exploring the effects of recontextualisation on cross-cultural knowledge transfer, international human resource management strategy and marketing, and, finally, develop some understanding of how diversity management initiatives can fail in practice.     

A New Perspective on Cross-Cultural Ethical Evaluations: The Use of Conjoint Analysis

The present paper compares the ethical perceptions of Americans and Greeks using conjoint analysis. The two samples were presented with 2 scenarios manipulating three factors: gender of the transgressor, organizational status of the transgressor, and the magnitude of the transgression. For each scenario, conventional mean comparisons and conjoint analyses were performed on five ethical measurements. The matrix of means and the relative importances of the American sample were compared with that of the Greek sample. The results showed that Greeks paid more attention to the dollar amount involved and less attention on the organizational status of the transgressor than Americans did. The gender of the transgressor was the least important factor for both samples. The use of relative importance measures derived from conjoint analysis is shown to provide a new dimension in cross-cultural comparisons.