The program-length commercial: A study of the effects of television/toy tie-ins on imaginative play

A study was done examining the impact of toy-based television programs and program-related toys on children. One hundred and ten first- and second-grade children participated in an experiment which focused on imaginative play. The results indicated that, in general, the combination of watching a toy-based cartoon, followed by playing with a set of cartoon-related toys, produced stories that were more imitative of the immediately preceding experience, whereas watching the cartoon alone or playing with the cartoon-related toys alone led to more imaginative productions from other sources. However, for certain aspects of imagination at a more advanced cognitive level, the cartoon, especially when combined with cartoon-related toys, actually stimulated the imaginative processes of the younger children, thus serving as a learning tool at a transitional stage of cognitive development.     

Relief and Redress for Targets of Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is a particularly insidious form of counterproductive workplace behavior that results in significant costs to both targets and organizations. We explore existing and potential avenues of relief and redress available to targets. Relief refers to activities focused on eliminating the bullying as well as the mechanisms used to treat those who have been bullied. Redress refers to third-party remedies that involve the financial and/or non-financial compensation of targets. The optimal strategy for dealing with workplace bullying involves both effective organizational interventions to help prevent and address bullying incidents and strong legislative mechanisms to allow for restitution and compensation. This two-pronged strategy provides targets of bullying with multiple sources of relief and redress.

How does the theory of consumption values contribute to place identity and sustainable consumption?

The importance of consumers’ role in sustainable consumption is reflected in the vision of the Sustainable Development Education Panel: To educate consumers to make informed consumption decisions, to take responsibility for their actions and to realize the impact of consumption decisions on future generations. However, educating and informing consumers alone is unlikely to change deeply entrenched unsustainable consumption behaviour. A multi‐faceted approach is required – enforcing sustainable development initiatives through legislation, promoting corporate social responsibility programs on the part of business, and (most importantly), supporting communities that engage in sustainable consumption. This study examines the proposition that individuals who identify with their community (i.e. the residential suburb or a locality where identity is understood geographically) are more likely to engage in sustainable consumption. Specifically, it examines how consumption value (i.e. the perceived value of living in a particular residential suburb) contributes to place identity and to environmental attitudes and sustainable consumption behaviour. Structural equation modelling is used to verify the conceptual model using data from a telephone survey of 561 residents from two inner city suburbs in Auckland, New Zealand. The results support the proposition that environmental attitude and sustainable consumption behaviour is enhanced by consumption values through place identity. Residents who enjoy living in their community, value a clean and healthy environment and believe their suburbs are unique tend to develop a stronger identity with their residential suburb, and are more positive towards sustainable consumption. The results have important implications for social marketers, property marketers and city councils who strive to encourage sustainable consumption among its citizens.     

Banking Competition and SMEs Bank Financing. Evidence from the Italian Provinces

This work investigates whether local differences in banking competition impact on the amount of bank debt used by Italian small and medium sized manufacturing firms. Sample selection and Double Hurdle models are adopted as the process, which results in the choice of bank financing may differ from that determining its amount. Our main finding is that more competitive banking markets seem to be associated with relatively higher usage of bank debt by less transparent firms. On the other hand, a higher banking competition seems to have no effect on the probability of receiving bank loans.

Using a dual system of reasoning in small businesses: Entrepreneurial decisions and subjective risk intelligence

This study aims at introducing subjective risk intelligence (SRI) in the context of small businesses to analyze how both rationality and intuition may influence the entrepreneurial decision-making process, particularly in affecting firms’ financial equilibrium.

SRI aggregates four dimensions: two positive attitudes (imaginative capability and problem-solving self-efficacy) and two detrimental ones (emotional stress vulnerability and negative attitude towards uncertainty). In particular, we argue that imaginative capability and emotional stress vulnerability refer to Kahneman’s System 1 (the intuitive), while problem-solving self-efficacy and negative attitude towards uncertainty appertain to System 2 (the rational).

We conducted an empirical investigation collecting data from an ad hoc survey administered to owners and managers of small businesses and their balance sheets over 2013–2017. After testing the proposed constructs’ reliability, we tested the influence that both Systems 1 and 2 have on SMEs’ financial structure through a pooled OLS regression estimator.

Results show that the intuitive and the rational components of risk intelligence affect entrepreneurs’ decision-making differently. The rational component seems to stimulate the entrepreneurial orientation to risk tolerance. The intuitive component limits the entrepreneurial propensity to take financial risks due to the desire for stability attached to this cognitive process. Accordingly, we highlight the importance of enhancing a balance between the two systems of thinking. Practical implications suggest that entrepreneurs with a dominant attitude towards problem-solving self-efficacy, or a positive attitude towards uncertainty, should invest in developing imaginative capabilities or emotional control, and vice versa.

     

Reducing complexity and compliance costs: a simplification safe harbour for the global minimum tax

I present a simplification safe harbour based on tax administrative guidance for Pillar Two, the global minimum tax, developed together with Cedric Döllefeld, Joachim Englisch, Simon Harst and Felix Siegel. It aims at reducing unnecessary compliance costs by avoiding effective tax rate (ETR) calculations if a minimum tax of 15 per cent has already been paid. The simplification safe harbour consists of a two-level test to determine if a full GloBE ETR calculation is required from a multinational enterprise (MNE) or if a simplified ETR calculation or no calculation at all is sufficient. The test consists of a country-level test and – only if necessary – an MNE-level test. The country-level test assesses a country's tax system. It seeks to determine whether the national tax system's nominal tax rates are (too) low and whether significant deviations between a country's tax base and the GloBE income exist. The second level, the MNE-level test, is only carried out if the country-level test has identified potential ‘red flags’. Even if this second test is required, the simplification safe harbour offers a significant reduction in compliance costs. This reduction is achieved by relying on national tax data, which are readily available in firms, instead of highly adjusted accounting data.