Impact of empathy with nature on pro-environmental behaviour

Existing studies show the role of empathy with nature in improving attitudes toward the environment. This article demonstrates that induced empathy with nature can improve environmental behaviours and commitments. We find that environmental commitment and behaviour are positively affected by empathy with nature and establish a causal model between empathy with nature and pro-environmental behaviour. We further investigate the relationship between self-construal (interdependent or independent), empathy with nature (existing or non-existing) and pro-environmental behaviour. The results indicate that participants who have empathy with nature display stronger pro-environmental behaviour, particularly in the private domain. Commitment to the environment plays a mediating role in this relationship and self-construal plays a moderating role. Specifically, for individuals with interdependent self-construal, empathy with nature promotes pro-environmental behaviour, whereas for individuals with independent self-construal, empathy with nature has no statistically significant effect on pro-environmental behaviour.     

Children's perception of dinner conversation with parents in Japan

The children's perception of dinner and dinner conversation with their parents was surveyed for sixth‐grade students of elementary school in Japan. The data were analysed from the gender of children and attending parents. The children had dinner and dinner conversation more frequently with their mother than with their father. With father attendance, girls and boys had the same frequency of dinner and dinner conversation, although, with mother attendance, girls had dinner conversation more frequently than boys. Most of the children felt happy when they had dinner with their parents. However, a lower percentage of children felt happy when having dinner conversation with their parents, thought that they were important to their parents and thought dinner conversation was useful. More children felt happy during dinner and dinner conversation with their mother than with their father. However, there was no perceived difference in the usefulness of the conversation based on the father or the mother attending. The contents of conversation were greatly affected by which parent was attending. Subjects concerning children's manners were talked about more frequently in conversation with mothers than with fathers. Children had more frequent conversations with their father about ‘social issues’ and the ‘parents’ surroundings’ than with their mother. Girls had more frequent conversations on a wider variety of subjects with their mothers than boys. Girls could more easily share in their mothers’ knowledge or sense of values through dinner conversation. Boys were, for the most part, excluded from this process in conversation with either parent.     

改进的参考独立分量分析算法

针对参考独立分量分析收敛速度较慢的问题,提出了两种基于改进的快速收敛牛顿迭代方法的参考独立分量分析方法。该方法首先对观测信号进行白化预处理,避免观测信号矩阵求逆运算,减少了算法的计算量;然后采用修正的具有三阶收敛速度的牛顿迭代方法对参考独立分量分析的代价函数进行优化,推导出快速收敛的参考独立分量分析算法。仿真实验结果表明,改进后的算法是有效的,算法收敛速度相对原算法提高了1.7倍,相对现有算法提高了1倍,而且误差更小。     

Comprehension of Warnings and Resulting Attitudes

This study demonstrates that education level and warning vocabulary affect consumer reactions to warnings. Consumers who did not complete high school were not able to comprehend warnings that contained difficult vocabulary as well as warnings with simple words. They perceived products that carry warnings with simple words as safer than products labeled with warnings containing difficult words. Finally, consumers with more education were found to have more negative attitudes toward warnings with difficult words than warnings with simple words despite understanding the warnings equally well.     

The Interplay of Emotion Regulation and Sales Experience in Salesperson Conflicts: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

ABSTRACT

It is human nature that personal interactions are often charged with emotions and laden with conflicts. Workplace encounters are not immune from this reality. Despite this, few studies have examined ways to reduce interpersonal conflict in the workplace. This study examines the interpersonal impact of emotion regulation on salesperson relationships with stakeholders. Using structural equation modeling, results of the analysis showed that salesperson's regulation of emotions was negatively related to interpersonal conflict with co-workers as well as with customers; and positively impacted customer-oriented sales behaviors. The results also support the moderating role of selling experience in the relationship between emotion regulation and interpersonal conflict with customers. That is, the negative relationship between regulation and conflict with customers is stronger for salespeople with lower sales experience. These findings put forward important managerial implications with regard to the recruitment and training of sales professionals.     

Does the nature of political connection matter for corporate social responsibility engagement? Evidence from China

We examine whether firms' political connection affects their corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagements and how the effects vary with different political ties, namely symbolic and material connections. These ties reflect different degrees of political embeddedness, interest alignment, network size, and monitoring with the government, and therefore impart divergent effects on managerial incentives for CSR practices. Our analysis indicates that CSR in firms with symbolic connection is much more associated with agency cost than CSR in firms with material connection. We also find that large firms with symbolic connection exhibit lower CSR performance than those with material connection, probably because the former group tends to substitute the prestige of their political capital for the goodwill associated with CSR engagement. These results show that accounting for the effects of different types of political connection on managerial incentives contributes some clarity to the debate about the compatibility of CSR with primary corporate mandates.     

关于会计理论实证研究方法的考察

本文的主要目的是评价会计理论的研究方法中实证接近方法的妥当性,找出研究方法上的错误,并提出解决这种错误的方法。文章首先分析了研究模型中假设的非现实性问题、验证可能性问题以及与规范理论的差别性问题,并以韩国和美国的经营者补偿合同为例找出了具体的错误和提出了解决方案。     

Is brand alliance always beneficial to firms?

In this research, we develop a fresh analytical model to examine the impact of brand quality on the firms’ performances when two firms selling substitute products form a brand alliance. Our results indicate that when two products have equal brand qualities, brand alliance is always a beneficial strategy for two firms to employ. However, when two products have different brand qualities, brand quality differential shows a positive relationship with the profit of the firm with the low-quality brand but demonstrates a negative relationship with the profit of the firm with the high-quality brand in the brand alliance. Our results also show that brand quality differential has a greater effect on the profit of the firm with the high-quality brand than on that of the firm with the low-quality brand. In addition, we find that brand alliance becomes much more valuable to the firm with the high-quality brand when the brand quality differential decreases, but the value of brand alliance has a concave relationship with the profit of the firm with the low-quality brand when the brand quality differential increases.     

残疾人发展权保障的理论体系与制度实践

从联合国《残疾人权利公约》到世界各国的宪法与专门法,残疾人发展权在法律层面被确定为残疾人群体享有的基本权利。法律规范和平等的政治参与为残疾人发展权的保障提供了规范依据,明确了残疾人发展权的价值内涵。在保障的具体途径上,社会保障为残疾人发展权保障提供康复与经济帮扶,无障碍支撑的保障为残疾人发展权保障创造完备的信息和设施环境,文化层面的氛围塑造和教育层面的融合理念为残疾人发展权的权利实现提供了路径,司法为残疾人发展权保障提供了程序与实体的支持。理论和实践表明,完善的发展权保障体系有助于实现残疾人平等、参与、共享社会生活并实现社会融合。我国也将不断充实和完善残疾人发展权保障的理论体系与制度实践,借鉴国际经验,实现"提升残疾人发展能力"的目标。     

Coordination Structures and System Restrictiveness in Distributed Group Support Systems

Most GSS research has studied the impact of restricting group interaction to GSS-prescribed coordination structures with face-to-face groups, while Distributed GSS (DGSS) has been largely ignored. Due to the nature of mediated communication in asynchronous interaction, it is relatively difficult to coordinate distributed groups, and a special coordination structure must be arranged to overcome these difficulties. This study examines the effect of system restrictiveness of coordination structures in an asynchronous environment. A 2 × 2 factorial experiment was designed with two independent variables – sequential vs. parallel coordination mode, and with vs. without a leader – to construct coordination structures with varying degrees of restrictiveness. The study finds that less restrictive coordination structures are more appropriate to support asynchronously interacting distributed groups. Objective decision quality is equal for both parallel and sequential coordination mode, but is significantly better with a group leader. Groups with parallel coordination mode have a stronger belief that the decisions they made are of higher quality than those of groups with sequential coordination mode. In groups with a leader, communication effectiveness is better. Satisfaction with a decision process is higher in parallel coordination groups and in groups with a leader. There is also a significant interaction effect. Satisfaction with the decision process is higher in sequential coordination groups with a leader than sequential coordination groups without a leader.     

Marketing Alliances Between Non-Profits and Businesses: Changing the Public's Attitudes and Intentions Towards the Cause

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent corporate and non-profit alliances can impact the public's attitudes and intentions to support a cause. Through the use of experimental design four types of alliances were examined: (1) low affinity cause aligned with company with strong reputation, (2) low affinity cause aligned with company with weak reputation, (3) high affinity cause aligned with company with strong reputation, and (4) high affinity cause aligned with company with weak reputation. Results of paired sample t-tests indicated significant changes for only one type of alliance, that which is between a low affinity cause and a corporate sponsor with a strong reputation. The low affinity cause experienced increased: (a) customer trust in the non-profit, (b) intentions to support the cause, (c) evaluations of cause importance, (d) personal feelings of responsibility to help the cause, and (e) evaluations of consequences for society through providing support. For the remaining three types of alliances changes were not significant.     

关于对邮政企业文化再造的几点探讨

邮政部门成为独立运营的现代企业以后,原有的企业文化已经不能满足新形势下邮政企业的发展需要,需要构建具有鲜明时代特点和浓郁行业特色的企业文化。邮政企业进行企业文化再造,应采用渐进式企业文化再造模式,坚持尊重历史与紧密联系实际的原则,坚持针对性和系统性相结合、行业共性和企业个性相结合、发挥企业家的作用与员工广泛参与相结合等原则。邮政企业文化再造是一个长期的、艰难的过程,要用动态的、发展的眼光看待企业文化再造。     

Impact of a local host on the success of an international assignment

This longitudinal study examined whether contact with a local host in the Netherlands positively impacts on the adjustment and performance of “Western” expatriates with English or French as their first language. Thirty‐one expatriates were put in contact with a Dutch host with whom they would have regular contact over nine months; another 30 similar expatriates would have no contact with a host. After a five‐month period of contact with a host, there was a positive impact on interaction adjustment. The results also indicated that expatriates who valued the contact highly derived more benefit from it. Contact with a host seems to be especially worthwhile for expatriates who have to deal with host nationals on a daily basis. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

论市场消费需求流行

消费者的需求具有可诱导性。而消费者的潜在需求转化为现实需求 ,是与消费市场文化及流行品有着重要的联系。市场消费需求流行是一种时尚的需求 ,是市场消费规律的一种表现形式。在众多企业产品与国际流行日渐接轨的市场形势下 ,研究市场消费需求流行的特性状态与扩散因素 ,是企业市场营销的重要课题和论证方法     

The real effects of local mutual funds: Evidence from corporate innovation

This paper investigates whether the proximity between mutual funds and firms could explain corporate innovation. I find that local mutual funds tend to increase firms' R&D expenditures and productivity. Firms with greater local ownership produce more patents and patents with bigger impact. The positive relations are more pronounced for firms with low information quality and poor corporate governance. Further, local funds with more innovative firms outperform the ones with less innovative firms. Finally, firms with higher local ownership are less likely to fire CEOs who engage in innovation, which incentivizes CEOs for risky investments.     

The moderating role of construal level on the evaluation of emotional appeal vs. cognitive appeal advertisements

This article proposes that construal level moderates consumer evaluation of different appeals (emotional vs. cognitive appeals) in advertisements. Low-level construal is associated with close psychological distance; this condition implies that people with low-level construal can feel an emotion more intensely than those with high-level construal. Consequently, consumers with low-level construal could positively relate with the emotional appeal ad, and they would evaluate an ad with emotional appeal more favorably than an ad with cognitive appeal. However, this effect does not occur among consumers who construe information at high-level, due to the fact that they are able to focus on the central and positive features of different appeals.     

Gender as a moderator of the relationship between materialism and fashion clothing involvement among Indian youth

The research examines the role of gender in moderating the relationship between materialism and product involvement with fashion clothing among the Indian youth. The Richins materialism scale and the product involvement and purchase involvement scales developed by O'Cass were used to understand the behaviour of Indian youth towards fashion clothing. The sample (n = 254) comprised of university students from different parts of India. The findings indicate that Indian youth do not possess a high level of materialistic tendencies. Gender has a moderating influence on the relationship between materialism and involvement with fashion clothing. Young men and women differ with respect to their involvement with fashion clothing and even more with regard to their involvement with the purchase of fashion clothing, with women reporting a higher level of involvement in both cases.     

Alliances and the innovation performance of corporate and public research spin-off firms

We explore the innovation performance benefits of alliances for spin-off firms, in particular spin-offs either from other firms or from public research organizations. During the early years of the emerging combinatorial chemistry industry, the industry on which our empirical analysis focuses, spin-offs engaged in alliances with large and established partners, partners of similar type and size, and with public research organizations, often for different reasons. We seek to understand to what extent alliances of spin-offs with other firms (either large- or small- and medium-sized firms) affected their innovation performance and also how this performance may have been affected by their corporate or public research background. We find evidence that in general alliances of spin-offs with other firms, in particular alliances with large firms, increased their innovation performance. Corporate spin-offs that formed alliances with other firms outperformed public research spin-offs with such alliances. This suggests that, in terms of their innovation performance, corporate spin-offs that engaged in alliances with other firms seemed to have benefitted from their prior corporate background. Interestingly, it turns out that the negative impact of alliances on the innovation performance of public research spin-offs was largely affected by their alliances with small- and medium-sized firms.     

具有网络外部性差异化产品的博弈分析

以双寡头博弈模型为基础,考察产品兼容、网络外部性对纵向差异化产品的市场竞争战略的影响。当产品具有网络外部性和不具有兼容性、具有网络外部性和兼容性及不具有网络外部性和具有兼容性时,高(低)质量产品的质量水平是不相同的。平均质量水平、价格、需求、利润以及社会福利也不相同,而且随着网络外部性强度和兼容性强度的变化而变化。     

关于对邮政企业文化再造的几点探讨

邮政部门成为独立运营的现代企业以后，原有的企业文化已经不能满足新形势下邮政企业的发展需要，需要构建具有鲜明时代特点和浓郁行业特色的企业文化。邮政企业进行企业文化再造。应采用渐进式企业文化再造模式，坚持尊重历史与紧密联系实际的原则，坚持针对性和系统性相结合、行业共性和企业个性相结合、发挥企业家的作用与员工广泛参与相结合等原则。邮政企业文化再造是一个长期的、艰难的过程，要用动态的、发展的眼光看待企业文化再造。