Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: The Role of Leadership Stress

Across two studies the hypotheses were tested that stressful situations affect both leadership ethical acting and leaders?? recognition of ethical dilemmas. In the studies, decision makers recruited from 3 sites of a Swedish multinational civil engineering company provided personal data on stressful situations, made ethical decisions, and answered to stress-outcome questions. Stressful situations were observed to have a greater impact on ethical acting than on the recognition of ethical dilemmas. This was particularly true for situations involving punishment and lack of rewards. The results are important for the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of an organization, especially with regard to the analysis of the stressors influencing managerial work and its implications for ethical behavior.     

Are we all environmental tourists now? The role of biases in social comparison across and within tourists,and their implications

From a management and research perspective, it is important to get a better understanding of what influences tourists in their decision to choose environmentally friendly travel options, and how these are related to social cognitive processes. This paper reports findings from two separate studies investigating the role of biases in social comparison, with particular reference to tourists' perception of their personal roles as environmentally friendly tourists, and especially tourists’ views of the environmental attitudes of other tourists. Samples of N = 1607 and N = 2076 tourists, respectively, were obtained for two studies in Western Norway. Results indicate that tourists perceive themselves to hold more pro-environmental attitudes than other tourists (i.e. “typical tourist”, “average tourist”, “tourists”). This suggests that there are differences in the perception of the self and others when it comes to social comparisons concerning issues of environmental sustainability. The findings also suggest that tourists hold overly positive views of themselves generally concerning issues of environmental sustainability and that their environmental attitudes reflect perceived desirable standards. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed from a social psychological perspective, and implications for tourism managers and researchers noted.     

Impact of airports on regional accessibility and social development

This study compares the impact that two airports in Norway have on regional accessibility and social development. One of the airports is a small-sized airport that serves a relatively remote region and has direct air services to other regions in Norway but not to the capital city of Oslo or to destinations abroad. The other is a medium-sized airport that serves a relatively accessible region and has direct air services to the capital city of Oslo and to a number of destinations in Norway and abroad. The study compares opinions of residents that live in the respective regions and is based on the findings of a postal survey that was completed by over 2000 residents. The Independent Samples t-test is used to investigate the significance of any differences in opinion. Significant differences were found to reflect the size and scope of services available at the airports and specific characteristics of the regions that they serve. Residents in the more remote region have a significantly higher frequency of travel by air to destinations in Norway but a significantly lower frequency of travel by air to destinations abroad. Trip frequency for holidays is significantly higher in the region that has an airport with direct international air services while trip frequency to access health services is significantly higher in the region that has limited local health services. The airport is significantly more important for resident location and retention in the remoter region.     

Differences and Similarities between Impulse Buying and Variety Seeking: A Personality‐based Perspective

Although personality is a key determinant of consumer purchasing decision making, the role of personality traits in impulse buying and variety seeking is not conclusive. This research uses a personality perspective to determine the unique associations among impulse buying tendency (IBT), variety seeking tendency (VST), and the Big Five personality traits within one integrated framework. Based on data from a nationally representative sample of 1644 Norwegian adults, the results show that while IBT and VST might be correlated, they differ significantly with respect to two major personality aspects: “neuroticism” and “openness to experience.” Specifically, the present study indicates that neuroticism predicted IBT positively and VST negatively, while openness was a strong predictor of VST and unrelated to IBT.     

The epidemiology of head injuries in Sweden from 1987 to 2000

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the variability in the annual head injury incidence rate in Sweden from 1987 to 2000. It was hypothesized that the annual incidence rate would decrease over time due to a variety of primary preventive strategies that have been introduced in Swedish society. We used the Hospital Discharge Register at the National Board for Health and Welfare and head injury codes 800-804, and 850-854 from ICD9 system and S2.0-S2.9, and S6.0-S6.9 codes from ICD-10 system. We evaluated the patterns of age, gender, external cause of injury (E-code), type of injury, length of hospital stay, and trends over time. Head injuries due to transportation collision were reduced over the 14-year period analysis. Falls persisted as the dominant cause of head injury. Overall, men had 2.1 times the incidence of head injury compared to women. There was a decline in younger ages experiencing a head injury over this interval, while the number of head injuries among elderly people increased over time. Concussion was about three times more frequent than fractures. Hematoma and diffuse or focal contusions had a much lower incidence rate than concussion. Concussions and fractures decreased over time. Diffuse or focal injuries showed a steady rate of occurrence over the study interval while hematoma increased. Although length of hospital stay varied widely from zero to more than 50 days, 73.6% of hospital days were confined to two days or less. The incidence rate is stable over this time frame. While head injuries attributable to transportation accidents decreased, falls made up an increasing proportion of head injuries. Since we observed an increase in head injuries among elderly, primary prevention strategies may need to be targeted at this age group, and at preventing falls.     

Export Marketing Arrangements in Four New Zealand Agriculture Industries: An Institutional Perspective

The article examines the effectiveness of export marketing arrangements in 4 of New Zealand's agricultural industries within an institutional perspective. The coordination tasks and economic return from the export were investigated in each industry. Safeguarding problems within a deregulated marketing arrangement might explain reluctance to engage in joint marketing efforts. The gain from setting up new arrangements that foster profitability must be perceived as larger than the setup costs and perceived future costs of mounting down existing arrangements. A framework for design of export marketing arrangements in agriculture industries is proposed. Suggestions for future research are outlined.     

Comparative evaluation and the relationship between quality,satisfaction, and repurchase loyalty

This study evaluates alternative measurement approaches to examining the relationship between perceived quality performance, customer satisfaction, and repurchase loyalty. The authors define and measure the constructs within a relative attitudinal framework and compare these results to a noncomparative or individual evaluation of products. In addition, loyalty is measured and defined as self-reported repurchase behavior instead of purchase intention. The proposed model, with satisfaction as a mediator between quality and repurchase loyalty, was found to be an acceptable representation of the data across four products and for both comparative and noncomparative evaluations. The use of relative attitudes, however, indicated a much stronger relationship between quality, satisfaction, and loyalty than the attitudes toward a product when they are performed as an individual evaluation. With respect to predictive ability, the study findings suggest that quality, satisfaction, and loyalty should be defined and measured within a relative attitudinal framework.     

Strait crossings and economic development: Developing economic impact assessment by means of ex post analyses

There is widespread scepticism among politicians and authorities concerning CBA as a main instrument for decision-making. This may cause possible bias towards non-quantitative factors as decisive. The challenge is to improve the methological approach, carefully examining the real benefits for road users. One way of doing this is to develop ex post CBA to test how critical assumptions fit to reality. The focus of this paper is on ex post analyses carried out with five case studies in larger infrastructure projects to assess the economic profitability actually occurring from new infrastructure. There are substantial differences in benefits ex post compared with the ex ante analyses, mainly explained by a shift parameter in willingness to pay (WTP) for the improvements. These ‘inconvenience costs’ saved by the road users add to the traditional value-of-time benefits. The paper also examines the profitability of private versus public funding and ends up with some considerations on regional impacts of transport infrastructure. A short presentation of a pilot study from two of the fixed links to elicit the influence on local industry is given. Some informal results support the theory of forward and backward linkages from new economic geography.     

跨国石油巨头何去何从

从表面上看，对于石油行业来说，没有比当下更好的时代了。需求迅猛增长，全球供给紧张，将油价一路推升至历史高点，至今尚未看到向下的拐点。虽然新的开发和开采项目的投资水平已经达到历史最高，大型石油公司仍然富余足够现金返还股东，未来的5至8年内在开发项目上仍将持续产出。     

The Northern Sea Route versus the Suez Canal: cases from bulk shipping

The navigation distance via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) from a Northwest-European port to the Far East is approximately 40% shorter compared to the route via the Suez Canal. The shorter distance may facilitate more than a doubling of vessels’ operational energy efficiency performance. There is at present substantial uncertainty in schedule reliability via the NSR. Unless the schedule reliability is improved, the NSR should primarily be explored for bulk rather than for liner shipping. A major disadvantage with the NSR is its seasonality. Shipping operations in the summer time via the NSR may already today be profitable for minor bulk trades. Additional shipping routes may give more flexibility, and the NSR route choice option may facilitate supply chain agility and adaptability.