Celebrity altruism: the good,the bad and the ugly in relationships with fundraising charities

• Enlisting or retaining the support of celebrity volunteers is a crucial element in the fundraising and communications strategies for many third sector organisations. But whilst there is a plethora of literature on volunteer motivations, there has been little exploration of the relationships between celebrity volunteers and the charities that they support. Furthermore, the limited theory that exists appears to be based on the experiences of fundraisers and other media specialists with little primary research on attitudes of celebrities themselves. This paper therefore considers celebrity/charity relationships on the basis of existing volunteer motivation theory and attitudinal data from a sample of 208 celebrity volunteers associated with a major fundraising charity in the UK. The findings indicate that the motivation of celebrity volunteers may be much closer to those of other charity volunteers than might be expected from other literature on celebrities. In addition, the study found that amongst other factors, celebrity volunteers typically prefer their engagements to be simplistic and expedient in nature, but that where possible, the engagement activity should be fun and rewarding. It also reveals that individual motives for supporting charities are varied in nature and range from purely altruistic tendencies at one end of the continuum to egoistic motives at the other. In addition, the study indicates that factors such as security and trust in the endorsed organisation are a key motivating factor for many.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

英国开放大学的学习者支持服务与质量提高(下)

艾伦·泰特教授认为,远程开放教育是由三个重要因素构成的,包括课程资源建设、学习支持服务和系统管理模式。英国开放大学以其开放的办学思想、灵活的办学方式、编写高质量的媒体教材、建立严格的教学质量保障体系和完善的学习支持服务系统等特色而闻名于世。英国质量保障局开展的学生满意度调查显示,英国开放大学学生对开放大学所提供的学习支持服务给予了充分的肯定,学生满意度连续三年名列前茅,说明英国开放大学能够将学习者的利益考虑在先,满足了学生对开放大学的期待。在构建远程教育学习支持服务体系的过程中,英国开放大学已经形成了自己的运行模式,它的学习支持服务系统建设值得借鉴。中央农广校对外交流处组织翻译了英国开放大学两名教授在第22届ICED世界大会上的论文,分两期连续刊登,供大家学习参考。     

A comparative analysis of the Australian and New Zealand liquidation schemes

On September 28, 2022, Australia announced an inquiry into the effectiveness of its corporate insolvency laws. The Australia and New Zealand corporate insolvency frameworks have similar objectives and operate in a similar context where, as is the case the world over, most companies are small to medium enterprises. Despite liquidation being just one of several collective and formal corporate insolvency procedures, it is the most frequently occurring procedure in both countries by a large margin. The Australian and New Zealand liquidation schemes have many similarities but also some key differences. Differences include the structure of the respective schemes; the levers prompting liquidation of companies in appropriate circumstances; the role of creditors, the court and the regulator; and the management of low-value and assetless liquidations. These differences are analysed to determine what, if anything, the New Zealand scheme might contribute to development and/or reform of Australian corporate insolvency law. As consistency and coordination with Australian insolvency law is a New Zealand policy aim, the lessons the Australian scheme might have for New Zealand are also considered. Many of the points on which the Australian and New Zealand liquidation schemes differ are of universal concern (such as the management of low-value liquidations), meaning that the nature and success (or otherwise) of the Australian and New Zealand responses are of wider, comparative interest.     

Earnings announcement return extrapolation

Review of Accounting Studies - We propose that extrapolative beliefs about earnings announcement (EA) returns may contribute to the understanding of EA return patterns. We construct a theoretically...     

The combined effects of positive and negative affect on job satisfaction and counterproductive work behavior

Management researchers have paid more attention to the role of affect in the workplace in the last two to three decades. While it is clear that positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) should be associated with positive and negative employee attitudes and behaviors, respectively, we know little about their combined effects. In this study, we provide preliminary evidence concerning the potential complexity of the interplay between PA and NA in affecting job satisfaction and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). Results of polynomial regression analyses from a sample of 216 employees showed that congruence of PA and NA at high level leads to the higher level of job satisfaction and CWB than they are congruent at low level. For incongruence situations, PA higher than NA leads to higher level of job satisfaction and a lower level of CWB than when NA is higher than PA. Theoretical implications, limitations and future directions are discussed.

     

The link between formality and procedural fairness: The influences of precision,sensitivity and role clarity

This study investigates the complex and not straight-forward association between formality and procedural fairness. It examines the mediating roles of precision of performance measures, sensitivity of performance measures and role clarity. Using survey responses of functional managers of Australian manufacturing firms, the study finds that the link between formality and procedural fairness is mediated by sensitivity of performance measures and role clarity. Role clarity also mediates the link between sensitivity of performance measures and procedural fairness. Our study contributes to the literature by identifying two important factors through which formal performance evaluation can enhance procedural fairness, which is a source of performance motivation.