The effects of schematic memory on imaginal information processing: An empirical assessment

The relationship between verbal and nonverbal modes of processing consumer information was examined in an investigation of schematic processing, a predominantly verbal mode, and visual imagery, a nonverbal method of information processing. It was found that individuals with a schema for a marketing event exhibited both a higher incidence and greater vividness of imagery during retrieval than did subjects without a schema. No differences were observed in either the frequency or clarity of images related to actions of varying degrees of abstraction in the event schema. These results indicate interdependence between schematic and imaginal processing consistent with the Cyclical Processing Model (Hampson and Morris 1979). A number of implications, both methodological and strategic, are developed from the observed relationship between imaginal and schematic information processing.     

Thermodynamic implications for natural resource extraction and technical change in U.S. copper mining

Motivated by the lack of integrated approaches that do justice to both the thermodynamic and economic aspects of natural resource use and the lack of empirical studies combining the two disciplines, this paper provides an integrated framework for the valuation of technologies, substitution and technical change. The paper determines empirically the relationships between thermodynamic states of materials and the use of high-quality energy sources for the case of copper mining in the United States. The empirical analysis provides the basis for a nonlinear dynamic simulation of optimal resource extraction and endogenous technical change in the light of changing resource quality. The study assesses the potential for future improvements in U.S. copper mining.     

Who Owns the Land? Perspectives from Rural Ugandans and Implications for Large-Scale Land Acquisitions

Rapidly growing demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property-rights systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Rapid and large-scale demands from outsiders are challenging patterns of gradual, endogenous change toward formalization. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. However this contribution, based on a 2008–09 study of land tenure in Uganda, analyzes how different definitions of land ownership – including household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land – provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of land ownership and rights. While many households report husbands and wives as joint owners of the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, and have fewer rights. A simplistic focus on “title” to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure and could have an adverse impact on women's land rights.     

The Blocking Lemma for a many-to-one matching model

The Blocking Lemma identifies a particular blocking pair for each non-stable and individually rational matching that is preferred by some agents of one side of the market to their optimal stable matching. Its interest lies in the fact that it has been an instrumental result to prove key results on matching. For instance, the fact that in the college admissions problem the workers-optimal stable mechanism is group strategy-proof for the workers and the strong stability theorem in the marriage model follow directly from the Blocking Lemma. However, it is known that the Blocking Lemma and its consequences do not hold in the general many-to-one matching model in which firms have substitutable preference relations. We show that the Blocking Lemma holds for the many-to-one matching model in which firms’ preference relations are, in addition to substitutable, quota q-separable. We also show that the Blocking Lemma holds on a subset of substitutable preference profiles if and only if the workers-optimal stable mechanism is group strategy-proof for the workers on this subset of profiles.     

Learning power in the workplace: the effective lifelong learning inventory and its reliability and validity and implications for learning and development

An organisation's ability to learn, to harness collective intelligence and to translate that learning rapidly into action in response to environmental challenges is the ultimate competitive advantage in the constantly changing context of the information age. It is an indicator of the organisations' resilience and adaptability in the face of uncertainty and change. Improving an organisation's capacity to learn will only have the desired impact on performance if it improves employee engagement at the same time. In this paper, we introduce the concept of learning power into the context of the workplace, drawing on what has been learned from its application in education and recent studies in the corporate and community sector in the UK and beyond. The seven dimensions of learning power were identified by Deakin Crick, Broadfoot and Claxton (2004, Assessment in Education Principles Policy and Practice, 11, 247–272) in the development of the effective lifelong learning inventory (ELLI), an assessment tool designed to enable learners to become aware of their own learning power and to turn diagnosis into strategies for improvement. We present the psychometric properties and the validity and reliability statistics of ELLI as the Learning Power assessment tool for learners in the world of work and community, based on an adult workplace population of over 5000. Finally, we explore the implications of these ideas and practices for learning in corporate organisations.     

Australian public sector reform

This article presents an investigation into the Australian public education sector and focuses on the management of research and doctoral education in an increasingly corporatized climate. It is argued that diversity in knowledge creation and production is central to the successful Knowledge Economy. Diversity in doctoral education encompasses: diversity of student; diversity of research approach and type; and diversity of discipline and institution. Government has a key role in maintaining diversity against the background of an increasing tendency in public sector policy towards corporatization and outcomes-based funding. Four key areas of concern are identified: funding allocation for research and doctoral places; resource allocation and competition; selectivity and concentration; and relevance. It is argued that, taken together, these four policy directions could significantly impact the nature of Australian doctoral research and, in many instances, diminish diversity.     

Pricing in a Service Sector Context: Accounting and Marketing Logics in the Hotel Industry

The paper analyses hotel room pricing via an application of institutional economic theory. The institutional framework considers the impact of accounting and marketing templates that help hotel managers make sense of complex pricing decisions. From an institutional perspective, the spread and implementation of these templates is influenced by specific historical factors and may be subject to path dependency. The institutional theory is applied to a case study using a pragmatic constructivist methodology. The case site revealed that whilst long run cost structures are important in locating the market niche of the business and that hotels use conventional cost control techniques, costs play relatively little role in price determination with a dominant role for marketing templates that concentrate on revenue management. The study suggests how the synthesis between institutional economics and pragmatic constructivism offers a research framework that could be replicated in further studies.     

What do you value? Examining gendered responses to appeal letters

This study builds on previous inductive analysis of fundraising professionals' choices in writing acquisition letters. Fundraisers often write in a way that aligns with one of two personal values, either foregrounding aspects of self-transcendent Universalism values (an appreciation for community and the welfare of all people) or of conservation Security values (those of personal safety and stability for close others). Previous research also indicates that while women and men have different donation styles, targeted motivating language has yet to be explored. Using a national sample, this research tests public response to letters written for a fictional children's charity using content aligned with each option separately, and combined, compared to a control version. Using an experimental dictator game, Universalism values are found to be negatively related to giving across the board as compared to the valueless treatment. We find no statistically significant improvement in donor responses to acquisition appeals that choose to highlight either Universalism or Security values between men and women, although men were marginally less responsive to Universal, self-transcendent values language. The discussion attempts to make sense of these results and the possible complications of running a donor acquisition campaign in the time of COVID-19.