Citizens’ e-participation on agenda setting in local governance: Do individual social capital and e-participation management matter?

Although a growing body of literature has touted e-participation as a means of facilitating greater citizen participation in policy decision-making processes, little is known about the driving forces behind citizens’ use of e-participation. Based on a literature review of social capital and citizen participation, this study develops and tests a model proposing that three dimensions of social capital and three dimensions of citizen participation management should be positively associated with e-participation in agenda setting. Using data from a Korean e-participation survey conducted in 2009, we found that citizens tend to be more active e-participants when they have greater trust in government and are weakly tied to offline social groups. We also found that citizen participants’ perception of government responsiveness to their input can facilitate their e-participation. The study findings imply that local governments should pay more attention to the function of public trust in local government and provide quality feedback in response to citizen input. They should also be sensitive to how the social factors of e-participants can facilitate involvement in agenda setting.     

What Role Does Sense of Power Play in Consumers’ Decision Making of Risky Food Consumption While Dining Out?

One way to understand risky food consumption is to look at the influence of the sense of power, as well as optimism bias. The purpose of this study was to examine how the sense of power affects consumers’ intention to consume risky foods by assessing the direct relationship between their sense of power and subsequent consumption of risky foods, and investigating the indirect relationship between sense of power and risky food consumption with general optimism bias or food safety optimism bias as a mediating variable. A web-based questionnaire with 387 responses was used to test the hypotheses and the indirect relationships from the sense of power to intention to consume risky foods via food safety optimism. Findings indicate the theoretical implication of a new variable (food safety optimism) that is useful in understanding the relationship between the sense of power and risky food consumption. Results also offer practical implications on better ways to market raw or undercooked foods to potential consumers.     

Dynamic Capabilities and Performance of Meeting Planners

As a new strategic management approach, dynamic capabilities theory leads meeting planners to adapt to rapidly changing environments in order to generate better performance and gain competitive advantages in the industry. Previous studies in management focused on dynamic capabilities of organizations, but this present study focuses on dynamic capabilities of individual meeting planners. The purpose of this present study is to determine key abilities that lead to dynamic capabilities of meeting planners, and to examine the relationship between the dynamic capabilities and job performance of meeting planners. Findings confirmed that resource reconfigurability and knowledge management were key abilities in dynamic capability, which directly impact job performance. This present study offers insight into how competitive advantage of meeting planners is achieved. Implications of the findings for theory and future research are discussed.     

The effect of sensation seeking and emotional brand attachment on consumers’ intention to consume risky foods in restaurants

Sensation seeking and emotional brand attachment have been studied extensively, but limited research has been conducted on “risky foods.” This study explored how sensation seeking, emotional brand attachment, and risky food consumption varies demographically, and the relationships among those variables. Approximately 300 responses were collected from a restaurant serving “risky” and “nonrisky” foods. Significant differences included that consumption of raw/undercooked fish/eggs was higher in younger groups. Females showed more affection toward emotionally attached restaurants. The hypotheses testing showed the positive relationship from sensation seeking and emotional attachment to risky food consumption. Results offer information about marketing to different demographic groups.     

Factors affecting consumption of raw or undercooked foods in restaurants

ABSTRACT

As consumers increase their consumption of Food and Drug Administration defined risky foods, more restaurants have begun to offer risky foods. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of cultural norms, experience, and knowledge on risky foods. This study measured the effect of perceived food riskiness on the likelihood of consuming risky foods with personal risk-taking level as a moderating variable. Results suggest that consumer perceptions of risky foods affect the likelihood of consumption. Perception is affected by three factors; cultural norm, experience, and knowledge. Results of this study can help restaurant managers better understand which consumers are interested in risky foods, the reasons why these consumers are interested in risky foods, and perhaps to whom to market risky foods most effectively and efficiently.     

Performance information use and severe cutback decisions during a period of fiscal crisis

This paper examines the impact of performance information use on government cutback decisions. The use of performance information was associated with the adoption of furloughs and layoffs, but not with service elimination or salary reductions. These mixed findings reveal the limited role of performance information use in cutback decisions.