Employee attitudes toward advertising

The attitudes and opinions of a group of bank employees toward a recent advertising campaign run by the bank which stressed employee service were studied via factor analysis. The analysis revealed three clearly defined dimensions underlying the attitude-opinion items: general attitude toward the campaign, relevance of the campaign to the respondent's job, and changes in the respondent's job behavior caused by the campaign. Relationships among factor scores on these three dimensions with job satisfaction, job involvement, degree of customer contact, and degree of contact with other employees were investigated using multiple regressions and canonical correlation analysis. Employee attitudes toward the campaign were significantly related to all four of the job characteristic variables, as was perceived relevance of the campaign to the employee's job. Changes in job behavior were related only to involvement and satisfaction. The relationships found here suggest that in some cases, employee attitudes should be considered in evaluating the effects of advertising campaigns. Close coordination between marketing and general managerial functions is required in situations where advertisements relate to employees as well as customers.     

The Ancients against the Moderns: Focusing on the Character of Corporate Leaders

When a series of corporate scandals erupted soon after the collapse of the 1990s bull market in equities, policy makers and reformers chiefly responded by augmenting and refining the checks and balances surrounding publicly traded corporations. Through measures such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, securities regulations were intensified and corporate governance was tightened. In essence, reformers followed the tradition of modern political philosophy, developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, in its insistence that pro-social outcomes are best produced through institutional mechanisms that harness self-interest. The empirical evidence, however, suggests the institutional approach will do little to prevent future ethical breakdowns. To corroborate this finding, we survey the literature on board composition, auditor consulting practices, shareholder activism, and executive compensation. Consequently, we look to another stream of political philosophy, the ancient tradition comprising Plato and Aristotle, which argues that social groupings, such as corporations, work best when led by individuals of good character. Applying the ancient view to modern commercial realities, the paper concludes that Benjamin Franklin’s attempt to connect virtuous character with enlightened self-interest offers a compelling ethic for corporate leaders. George Bragues is head of the Media Studies program and teaches philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto, Canada. He is an occasional contributor to the National Post in Canada, writing op-ed pieces on financial and economic topics for that paper’s financial section. His academic articles have been published previously in the Journal of Business Ethics, as well as the Independent Review and in Business Ethics Quarterly.     

The New Deal at war: alphabet agencies’ expenditure patterns, 1940-1945

While a multitude of New Deal “relief, recovery, and reform” agencies were created in response to the 1930s economic shock, many of these same agencies were subsumed by the Federal Works Agency and played key national defense roles during the 1940s. We examine the wartime expenditure patterns of these agencies, as well as spending on war supply contracts and war-related industrial facilities, to determine whether Depression-era economic goals were addressed during the Second World War. We find that some specific aspects of the New Deal economic agenda were carried out during the war. Furthermore, wartime spending by the alphabet agencies was significantly correlated with the expenditure patterns of those agencies during the 1930s, suggesting that the transition from economic to military objectives may not have been as pointed as the Roosevelt Administration often asserted.     

浅析本雅明的“灵韵”理论思想

在前人的基础上,本雅明通过进行创造性的运用和发展,进而形成"灵韵"。观赏者透过神韵,通过联想和互动,能够被艺术强烈地震撼。但是,随着现代机械复制技术的不断发展,灵韵逐步被摧毁。本文通过阐述灵韵的含义,介绍灵韵的基本特性,同时对灵韵的结局——被摧毁进行分析。进而希望对人们的感觉系统进行改变和重塑。     

本杰明·格雷厄姆关于投资与投机区别的基本观点——兼论我国证券投资分析教材中的错误

正确认识投资与投机的区别具有重大的理论与现实意义。本杰明·格雷厄姆的证券分析理论对于投资与投机的区分进行了重点阐述,具有特别重要的价值。其基本观点有：投资可以得到安全边际的保护,而投机得不到这种保护;投资的策略是证券估值,投机的策略是市场预测;投资运用基本分析法,投机运用市场分析法。通过比较发现,我国证券投资分析教材存在以下错误：没有抓住投资与投机在“安全性”这一本质属性上的差异;把投资策略与投机策略混为一谈;把基本分析法与市场分析法都当成投资分析方法。这些错误给人们带来较大的思想混乱,应该予以改正。     

Inside Institutions of Progressive-Era Social Sciences: The Interdisciplinarity of Economics and Sociology

In the Progressive Era, sociology and institutional economics shared some important methodological principles and theoretical constructs. This study explores some of these similarities, focusing on the ideas and theories of Albion Small and Franklin Giddings, who were the most important sociologists in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Since the literature on the history of the interdisciplinarity of economics and sociology is somewhat scarce, this study aims to contribute to this historiography by considering the methodological and theoretical underpinnings of early institutional economics — mainly from the standpoint of Veblenian institutional economics.     

Industrial product concept testing

Concept tests are widely used for consumer packaged goods products; however, their use has not been widely described for industrial products. Concept tests can be particularly useful in situations where creation of working prototype products is expensive, as with many industrial products. We report a concept testing procedure that incorporates many features unique to industrial marketing problems. The results of a limited pilot test of the method are given.     

Authenticity & aura: A Benjaminian Approach to Tourism

As a dynamic concept, authenticity has ignited many debates regarding its meaning and utility, thus resulting in several theoretical perspectives (objective, constructive, postmodern, existential) with various analytical focuses, from object to experience. In light of its conceptual variability, it should be asked—What does authenticity do? This paper revisits Walter Benjamin’s notions of authenticity and aura; ideas introduced by MacCannell and worthy of further consideration. Similar to its development in tourism studies, Benjamin’s theorizations of the concept are complex and relational—authenticity is established through ritual and tradition and is connected to aura. They are mutually constitutive and simultaneously products of other phenomena. As it bridges analytical perspectives, his work offers a useful addition to the authenticity discourse.     

从“纯语言”与“可译性”解读本雅明《译者的任务》

本雅明在其著作《译者的任务》中阐述了他独特的翻译观,对传统的翻译理论产生在巨大的冲击.本雅明的翻译观是建立在“纯语言”基础上.通过探讨“纯语言”与“可译性”,我们可以对《译者的任务》里本雅明所阐述的翻译观有更深入的了解.本雅明的翻译观虽然存在着某种神学气息,但其观点还是科学的,辩证的,对后来的建构主义发展以及未来翻译的研究方面都有非常积极的意义.