Debt and disadvantage: the experience of unmanageable debt and financial difficulty in England and Wales

In common with a number of other developed western states, the UK has seen significant growth of consumer debt over the past three decades. In tandem, there has been an associated increase on the demand for debt advice. Using data from the English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey, this article explores how debt problems are experienced across the population and goes on to contextualize the distinct nature of debt problems and their relationship to other problems of everyday life. Findings reaffirm the increased vulnerability to debt problems experienced by socially excluded groups, such as lone parents, those with a long‐term illness or disability and the people with no academic qualification. Results go further to demonstrate that vulnerability is not constant but is also influenced by broader economic and social factors; in particular, findings demonstrate how problems directly associated with the economic downturn increase vulnerability to unmanageable debt and financial difficulty. Given this relationship, and the prolonged longevity of debt problems compared with other problem types, we would expect to see an increase in the experience of debt problems as the effects of the recession become fully apparent, and for some time thereafter. Discussion focuses upon the policy relevance of findings to frontline debt counselling and advice services operating within an increasingly tighter financial environment. Specifically, emphasis is placed upon potential benefits of offering debt counselling and advice as part of an array of other social welfare advice services, and even working across sectors to get better penetration into hard to reach groups.     

Corporate Social Responsibility as a Strategic Opportunity for Small Firms during Economic Crises

The aim of this study is to analyze if there is a direct causal relationship between small firms’ orientation toward corporate social responsibility and their competitive success, mediated by innovation and performance. A structural equation model has been applied to a sample of 758 small Spanish firms. The results indicate that, in times of economic crisis, socially responsible strategies are a determining factor in firms’ competitiveness. Pragmatic advice for practitioners derives from research results, considering that social responsibility represents an opportunity for small firms in the complex and turbulent time. The findings encourage small firms to manage operations responsibly as a guarantee of market success.     

Evaluating Advice: Self‐Presentational Biases between High and Low Self‐Monitors

Previous research has demonstrated that high and low self‐monitors sought advice from others who shared their underlying motivational dispositions. Here, three studies extend the prior research by exploring how consumers’ underlying motives direct the type of advice offered and how it is evaluated. In Study 1, high and low self‐monitors were asked to evaluate the advice they gave others. As predicted, high self‐monitors rated their advice more favorably than did low self‐monitors. The underlying motivation that caused high self‐monitors to evaluate their advice more positively was investigated in Study 2. Results indicated that high self‐monitors rated their advice higher because it appeared to be meeting a social‐adjustive function (i.e., self‐presentational needs). In Study 3, high and low self‐monitors created an advertisement that featured their advice on dating for a fictitious online matchmaking service. As expected, advertisements created by high self‐monitors contained advice that addressed social‐adjustive needs while those created by low self‐monitors contained advice that addressed value‐expressive needs. The results of these studies suggest that underlying motivations of the individual play an active role in how advice is crafted and evaluated.     

Consuming Alone: Broadening Putnam's “Bowling Alone” Thesis

Despite the popularity of Wi‐Fi technologies and social networks, many residents in developed nations are more socially isolated now than a few decades ago. Applying fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis, using a nationally representative sample in one developed nation this study investigates the relationship between social isolation and advice‐giving and advice‐seeking behaviors with regard to brands or products. This study raises the proposition that people who are socially isolated lack the opportunity to give and seek advice, and, thus, abstain from doing so. Additionally, the study proposes that lacking ability or motivation also represent causal conditions for isolation. The study also investigates consumer behavior outcomes of low advice‐giving and advice‐seeking behaviors; that is, pampering and status buying. The findings from an analysis of an omnibus annual survey of residents in one nation support the propositions that the study proposes from theory and are likely relevant for residents of most developed nations.     

Entwickeln sich wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung und Politikberatung auseinander?

Most German economists show strong patterns of professional specialisation. In their work, they either focus on basic research or on policy consultancy. The evidence provided by Haucap und Mödl has been used to question work incentives in academia. The suggestion to change work incentives, however, is not supported by Richter, who rather calls into question the German tradition of research funding. He argues that Germany should devote more competitive funding to research projects and less to institutions. Schmidt et al. explore the question the other way around: do policy consultants publish in top journals? They conclude that they do. Güth/Kliemt show how precarious and limited our (technologically useful) knowledge is. The discussion of alternative policies among economic experts should be used to tease out the controversial arguments to allow for better informed political judgements. Wagner/Fratzscher take a historical view, showing that when modern economic research (and economic research institutes) apply a more pluralistic paradigm than that which prevailed in Germany for a long period after the Second World War, economic research will automatically have a more significant impact on politics, since policy advisors will produce more varied advice with the potential for realisation. Koll also claims that policy advice must not be based on a single supply-side oriented mainstream point of view. By drawing lessons from the crisis, economics must identify a new mainstream providing reliable guidance and policy advice.     

Word-of-mouth rhetorics in social media talk

Although researchers and practitioners have access to a growing body of evidence on the effects of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) frequency and valence, a more detailed understanding of eWOM content is needed in order to better influence these social media-enabled conversations. Based on an ethnomethodological analysis of community conversations in a popular parenting online forum, we reveal that eWOM is a powerful social act in which consumers use a broad repertoire of eWOM rhetorical methods. The repertoire for advice-seeking talk includes five components: seeker's legitimacy, topic legitimacy, request formulation, solicitation of responders, and requested response framing. The repertoire for advice-giving includes four components: foundation of authority, advice framing, advice focus, and advice scheme. For each of these components in the two repertoires, we identify corresponding rhetorical methods that can be used in the conversation (over 30 methods in total). Preliminary evidence also suggests that rhetorical alignment between advice-seekers and givers drives effectiveness of eWOM advice. The proposed rhetorical framework has relevance and implication for the many areas where social media and marketing meet.     

三峡库区待迁移民的搬迁态度及其影响因素

考察了以往三峡移民研究中被忽略的一个侧面———待迁移民对搬迁所持有的态度及其影响因素。目前大部分待迁移民在搬迁的实际与预期存在一定的差距。其中 ,待迁移民对搬迁的经济衡量具有最为显著的正向作用 ,政策宣传影响及社会资本评价也具有一定的正向影响 ,户口性质在其他因素相同情形下有较大的负向作用。提出了建立态度引导机制的相关建议     

Chances of tourism promotion in LDCs

The author tries to draw up a balance sheet between, on the one hand, the economic benefits flowing to LDCs from foreign tourism and, on the other hand, the social and cultural harm done to LDCs by tourism. Concluding, he defines a number of conditions under which touristic projects may be suitable for promotion through foreign aid.     

基于从业人转变我国经济增长方式探讨

转变经济增长方式是中国经济转型发展的伟大社会实践,其中人是行为主体,应以从业人为本,公民要从自己的从业作起,调整职业活动行为,走可持续发展的文明从业生财之路。转变经济增长方式人人有责,应进行广泛宣传教育,切实考虑从业人利益,建立激励机制,发挥行业协会的考核评比与帮助促进的作用,国家进行严格规范管理。     

The Institutionalization of Fair Trade: More than Just a Degraded Form of Social Action

The context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements. The emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade, which influences the economy towards political or social ends. Having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices, fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of World Shops, the arrival of fair trade products in the food industry, and the establishment of an official “fair trade” label. With the strength that this institutionalization has generated, fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions, as much as it renews, the traditional economic system. In parallel, this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement, which can be characterized as a clash between a “radical, militant” pole and a “softer, more commercial” one. However, it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence, but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements. Therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action, but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements. If we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system, the opposite is no less likely, as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets.     

宁夏科技投入与经济增长:基于灰色关联分析的实证研究

系统分析了国内研究现状及2001年以来宁夏科技投入在国内生产总值中所占比重及其增长率的变化状况。通过科技投入与经济增长灰色关联分析,建立了科技经济费支出、科技人员与GDP之间关联度计量模型。在此基础上,根据宁夏国民经济和社会发展实际,提出了加大科技投入、优化科技政策环境等建议。     

The Institutionalization of Fair Trade: More than Just a Degraded Form of Social Action

The context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements. The emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade, which influences the economy towards political or social ends. Having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices, fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of World Shops, the arrival of fair trade products in the food industry, and the establishment of an official “fair trade” label. With the strength that this institutionalization has generated, fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions, as much as it renews, the traditional economic system. In parallel, this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement, which can be characterized as a clash between a “radical, militant” pole and a “softer, more commercial” one. However, it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence, but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements. Therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action, but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements. If we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system, the opposite is no less likely, as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets.     

Limits to learning from the west: How western management advice may prove limited in Eastern Europe

The West's aid to the emerging Eastern European economies includes consultancy and education. This will have considerable impact on their economic and managerial activity, even though the theories of organization and management on which it is based are much criticized here. As these theories are applied in the extreme economic, social and political circumstances of the Soviet collapse, we are likely to be both surprised and pushed into a period of critical organizational theorizing. Much of the criticism comes from institutionalists who reject a generic approach to economics and management. They argue instead that organizations are embedded within a specific environment of social, legal, economic, and technological institutions which fashion their activities. They are saying “things are different over there and we should recognize that our advice presumes our own institutional arrangements.” The first part of this study reviews the reasoning behind this critique. It has two threads: (a) the institutional context and the way that shapes economic transactions and their costs; and (b) the way institutions develop as collective responses to social uncertainties. We look at organization theory's dependence on the social institutions, such as contract law, professional training, and the market for insurance. We take these and many other Western institutions for granted, and seldom stop to analyze them. In Eastern Europe, managers lack such institutional infrastructures and face uncertainties beyond our experience. This article's second part focuses on the processes by which organizations respond to uncertainties. There are many types of uncertainty and we pick out that of adopting a new technology. Problems arise because of “gaps” between the organization's in-place work practices, knowledge, and attitudes, and those which they must eventually adopt if they are to use the new technology effectively. Recent research into workplace know-how suggests that such gaps are bridged by workers developing a new “tacit” understanding of the technology through learning-by-doing. This knowledge generation (KG) works best when it is also communal, when creative teams form. By definition, this kind of team cannot be managed bureaucratically, in ways that depend on an understanding of the task in hand. We see that bureaucracy is a theory of knowledge application (KA) which breaks down in the absence of the necessary knowledge, rules, measurements, communications, and sanctions. Creative teams can operate under the conditions of bureaucratic failure because they are held together by institutional forces rather than by rational administration. The context of social institutions outside the organization becomes important because it defines the institutional bases for such teams. In the final section we look beyond creative teams as internal uncertainty resolvers. The new institutional economists argue that firms should internalize the uncertain transactions that are difficult to contract, and so precipitate market failure. We suggest that entrepreneurs also look outside the firm at those social institutions which enable them to externalize uncertainties. In general, the institutionalist critique reveals that entrepreneurs have several domains of action. The formal KA part of the firm, the focus of classical organization and management theory, is but one of these domains. Other equally important KG domains lie both within the firm and in the interorganizational networks and social institutions beyond its boundaries. The uncertainties of the Soviet collapse move us on from the simplicities of Western organization theory toward a richer set of ideas more relevant to our Eastern European colleagues—and to ourselves.     

For one or many? Tie strength and the impact of broadcasted vs. narrowcasted advice

Consumers’ and marketers’ growing reliance on digital and social media has significantly influenced the nature of communications. Importantly, new communication mediums have made it easier for communicators to provide recommendations to a single individual (i.e., a one-to-one communication known as narrowcasting) as well as to large numbers of individuals (i.e., a one-to-many communication known as broadcasting). The current research assesses the impact of advice scope (either narrowcasted or broadcasted advice) on consumers’ likelihood of taking advice. Across two experiments, we demonstrate that the acceptance of broadcasted or narrowcasted advice is dependent upon tie strength between the advisor and the advisee. Furthermore, we highlight the role of psychological reactance in consumers’ response to narrowcasted and broadcasted advice. Our results extend prior research on consumer advice utilization and identify situations where broadcasted advice may be more persuasive than narrowcasted advice.     

The Business Responsibility for Wealth Distribution in a Globalized Political-Economy: Merging Moral Economics and Catholic Social Teaching

If it is accepted that the real marketplace does not necessarily distribute wealth in the manner that the ideal market would have done, and that societal institutions have an obligation to bring the real and ideal market distributions into accord, then it can be argued that economic actors have a responsibility to consider the effects of their activities on the distribution of wealth in society. This paper asserts that businesses have a responsibility to consider the wealth distribution effects of their wealth-creating decisions. We use arguments from moral economics and Catholic social teaching to support this assertion, deriving decision principles that we apply to the Starbucks fair trade coffee case.     

Multinational corporate social policy process for ethical responsibility in sub-Saharan Africa

The article identifies the challenges that multinational corporations (MNCs) from the developed world face in sub-Saharan Africa and examines the direct foreign-investment and development interests of the region. In light of these challenges and interests, it also explores answers to the question “What is to be done?” The occurrence of MNCs' operations in culturally pluralistic societies suggest that they use, as the basis for a corporation-formulated regional code of conduct, a value-based corporate social policy process. That process should embody utilitarian and situation ethics in the exercise of MNCs' prima facie operations and of their responsibilities to society. For the African normative environment, the appeal of this approach is substantiated by the notion that both utilitarian and situation ethics are at once consistent with the region's investment codes, development interests, and value systems. But more than that, utilitarian and situation ethics are consistent with corporate social policy process and can assist MNCs to meet effectively their social responsibilities by helping them reverse the economic stagnation of most of the continent. However, because deontological (that is, Kantian) ethics emphasize autonomous actions that satisfy individual goals, they are largely at odds with sub-Saharan African value systems that typically emphasize the ethnic group (heteronomy) rather than the self. MNCs would, therefore, do well to de-emphasize their use in the region.     

The Framing of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Globalization of National Business Systems: A Longitudinal Case Study

The globalization movement in recent decades has meant rapid growth in trade, financial transactions, and cross-country ownership of economic assets. In this article, we examine how the globalization of national business systems has influenced the framing of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This is done using text analysis of CEO letters appearing in the annual reports of 15 major corporations in Sweden during a period of transformational change. The results show that the discourse about CSR in the annual reports has changed from a national and communitarian view of social responsibility (cf. a negotiated view of CSR) toward an international and individualistic view of social responsibility (cf. a self-regulating view of CSR). The article contributes theoretically (1) by adding a national–global dimension to previous conceptualizations of CSR and (2) by showing that the rise of CSR discourse and activities in the last 10 years does not have to imply an increased commitment and interest in corporate responsibility per se, only that there are increased societal expectations that corporations should develop the capability to act more independently as moral agents.     

外商投资对江西省经济增长贡献研究

文章运用灰色关联模型,对江西省2001—2010年外商投资与经济增长的关系进行了实证研究。研究表明:外商投资带来的产业转移与江西省经济发展的水平具有密切的关系,产业转移不断推进有力的促进了江西省经济的发展。文章最后还提出了相关的政策建议。     

推销人员道德失范的影响因素及对策分析

改革开放30年以来，我国市场经济逐步发展，然而社会转型和经济转轨使得社会的道德状况面临严峻考验，道德建设的新问题和新要求使得社会应充分关注站在市场前沿的推销人员。针对影响推销人员道德状况的因素进行归纳分析，提出了改善推销道德状况的对策，以期补充推销人员道德建设的研究和应用。