The innovative bureaucrat: evidence from the correctional authorities in Washington State

Bureaucracies are usually regarded as inefficient, wasteful mechanisms. Contrary to this deeply rooted perception of bureaucracy, this paper documents the case of the correctional authorities in Washington State, a bureaucracy that acted with a considerable degree of innovation and professionalism. Their task was to administer a risk assessment instrument that measured the level of risk posed by offenders by way of a numerical score. They used that score to identify the level of supervision offenders were to receive once released into the community. In analyzing the data, I discovered an unusual application of the instrument that resulted in many offenders being bumped to a higher supervision level. Using a regression discontinuity design, I uncover the mechanics of the bumping-up process and I generate an instrument that is cleansed of the manipulation. I find that the manipulated instrument predicts serious recidivism events better than the cleansed instrument, especially when these events involve high-risk offenders, thus providing evidence that the authorities had good reason to undertake the manipulation.     

Sensory Aspects of Retailing: Theoretical and Practical Implications

Sensory elements are an important aspect of both offline and online retail stores and can non-consciously influence consumer judgments and purchase behavior. In offline settings, ambient factors like scent, lighting, and music have been shown to influence customers’ shopping experiences and their buying behaviors. For online retail outlets, sensory factors related to color, display patterns, and layouts can have significant effects on consumer behavior. Sensory elements have strong managerial relevance since they can non-consciously influence behaviors and because they are relatively easy to change; for example, it requires minimal effort to change the lighting or the music at a physical retail store or the display pattern for an online store. The eight papers in this special issue address theoretical and practical issues related to how different sensory elements can strongly influence retail practices. These papers focus on underexplored topic areas and also on emerging technologies, which stimulate thoughts for further research in these areas.     

Financing energy efficiency retrofits in Chilean households: The role of financial instruments,savings and uncertainty in energy transition

High firewood consumption for heating produces high levels of pollution in cities in central and southern Chile, with serious consequences for health and quality of life. Energy efficiency measures (EEMs) have been identified as the best strategy to reduce air pollution and maximize social benefits. However, their adoption has been slow. The objective of this article is to investigate household preferences for financial incentives needed to promote private investments in EEMs in Central-Southern Chilean households and study the role of energy savings and the uncertainty about potential savings in the investment decision, with the aim of finding solutions to increase the adoption of these technologies. We use a choice experiment to explore the trade-off between the investment costs, financial instruments, energy savings, and the uncertainty about achieving the theoretical savings provided by engineering and architectural models. The results show that financial instruments play the most important role in this decision, followed by the savings achieved by the retrofit. Householders prefer to finance their investments with a mix of their personal resources and medium-term credits, trying to avoid long-term commitments. Although uncertainty was found to be a significant variable, it seems to play a small role in the investment decision.     

The Impact of Students’ Cultural Intelligence on Their Psychological Safety in Global Virtual Project Teams

This study addresses a call for the design and implementation of course curricula that prepare students to develop their CQ and gain experience working with peers on global virtual project teams. We explored how US-based and Peru-based students’ cultural intelligence (CQ) impacted their sense of psychological safety (PS) during a month-long global, virtual team project. We also examined the students’ people-focused (PF) and task-focused (TF) behaviors as mediators of the CQ-PS relationship. The results of mediation analyses provide support for our hypothesis that the relationship between cultural intelligence and psychological safety will be mediated by people-focused behaviors. Finally, we provide a model and suggestions for virtually bringing together students from different countries to collaborate on a global virtual project, and avenues for future research. Here we encourage a focus on a curriculum that educates students about their cultural intelligence and ways to develop psychologically safe learning environments. We also highlight the potential learning for faculty teaching such courses, and note how our experience collaborating with our counterpart in Peru constituted a fractal of what our students were experiencing on their global projects.     

基于多软件平台的机电液一体化虚拟试验方法

提出一种针对复杂机电液系统的虚拟仿真试验方法,分别在ADAMS、AMESim、MATLAB/Simulink软件中建立机械子系统、液压子系统和控制子系统模型,并基于软件间接口技术,建立动态数据共享通道,实现系统的全面仿真分析,为系统设计与优化、控制策略选择等提供依据.该方法对于复杂机电液系统仿真分析具有普遍适用性,对缩短产品开发周期、降低产品研发成本、减轻仿真工作复杂性具有重要意义.     

The Improbability of Fraud in Accounting for Derivatives: A Case Study on the Boundaries of Financial Reporting Compliance

ABSTRACT

This study responds to recent calls in the literature to examine fraud using detailed case studies, extending knowledge beyond individual incentives and capital market reactions towards a more contextualized understanding of the concept. We use an institutional logics perspective to challenge existing assumptions about a universally valid meaning of compliance, fraud, and faithful representation. Presenting the case of the Swedish bank HQ, we show how the interpretation of the accounting standard for option measurement varies across different enforcement bodies because the meaning of compliance is socially negotiated across the institutional logics of markets, financial regulation, and law. The independent decision-making of the different enforcement bodies leads to a systematic variation in the interpretation of principles-based accounting standards without ultimate coordination. To define consistent boundaries of compliance across institutional logics, and thus, to distinguish between fraud and allowable managerial discretion becomes problematic. Faithful representation, in turn, cannot be understood as financial statements reflecting a correct value or as financial statements being prepared in accordance with acceptable practice, as suggested in the earlier literature. Instead, faithful representation itself becomes a contextually bound concept, which can only be defined within an institutional logic.     

中国粮食虚拟水驱动效应与空间联动分析

以中国粮食虚拟水为主要研究对象,运用LMDI指数分解法,对粮食生产用水量的驱动效应进行分解,从结构、粮食产量、经济发展和人口规模4个重点驱动效应方面实行量化研究,并利用geoda软件求得莫兰指数,分析粮食用水量的空间相关性以及其各种驱动效应在省际间的影响,并针对中国粮食生产用水的现状提出建议。     

Non-immersive virtual reality technologies in real estate: How customer experience drives attitudes toward properties and the service provider

Although previous research has highlighted that virtual reality (VR) technologies can enhance customer experience, the efficacy of VR technologies in real estate remains unclear. Therefore, this study examines the effects of offering consumers a non-immersive VR experience via a widely available technology, that allows them to view real estate products. Participants accessed the website of a real estate agency that presented apartments through either static photos or interactive 360° visits. The latter condition was associated with better “visiting” experiences and more positive attitudes toward both the products and the agency. This study highlights the advantages of such technologies in enhancing customer experience and attitudes, particularly in the highly competitive real estate industry.     

治理机制对顾客参与价值共创行为的影响——虚拟品牌社区的实证研究

虚拟品牌社区是企业与顾客进行价值共创的重要平台,顾客参与价值共创行为对企业长远发展具有十分重要的作用。现有研究多是基于不同的理论从顾客视角出发探索顾客参与价值共创行为受到的心理动机和个人特征等因素的影响,鲜有从企业视角出发,探索治理机制对虚拟品牌社区中顾客参与价值共创行为的影响。本文立足交易成本理论与社会交换理论,从企业视角切入,引入关系质量作为中介变量,构建虚拟品牌社区治理机制、关系质量与顾客参与价值共创行为的关系整合模型。采用问卷调查法对模型进行验证,研究结果显示:(1)契约治理机制只对知识贡献行为产生显著正向影响,对顾客公民行为的影响不显著,而关系治理机制对知识贡献行为与顾客公民行为均具有显著正向影响。(2)关系质量在契约治理机制与顾客公民行为的关系中起完全中介作用,在契约治理机制与知识贡献行为、关系治理机制与知识贡献行为以及关系治理机制与顾客公民行为的关系中起部分中介作用。由研究结论可知,虚拟品牌社区一方面应综合运用契约治理机制与关系治理机制来有效地促进顾客参与价值共创行为,以弥补单独运用某一种治理机制存在的不足;另一方面也应注重关系质量在虚拟品牌社区中促进顾客参与价值共创行为的重要作用。这些研究发现为促进虚拟品牌社区的可持续发展提供了有价值的启示。