Constructivist Negotiation Ethics

The success of Discourse Ethics is premised on the discovery and use of shared values. If this is true what type of negotiation style, especially when used in an intercultural setting, is best suited to make use of shared values. Research focusing on moral arguments between Germans and Americans uncovered an array of shared values. But the existence of shared values, by itself, was not an adequate predictor of a negotiation's success. What did prove to be a predictor of success was the use of a Constructivist style of negotiation by both parties.     

From Impartial Advocates to Political Agents: Role Switching and Trustworthiness in Consultancy

Consultancy firms inform, advise, implement and mediate in their own interests and in the interests of their clients. We can only guess if their work is also in the interest of the public. There is no critical and systematical assessment of the behavior of consultancy firms. What roles do consultancy firms chose? And what arguments do they use? In the nineties the international consultancy firm Hill &; Knowlton took on two assignments that showed a remarkable difference in the required role the firm had to play. In the first role the firm acted as an impartial advocate, in the second role the firm acted as a political agent. An analysis of the argumentation for both roles shows us the familair short-sighted choice for the annual turnover at the cost of internal and external trustworthiness. In this decade consultancy firms will need to develop ethical assessments that meet more professional standards.     

Consumer Affairs in Rural New Zealand

Recent changes in many areas of Government policy as well as changes in the private sector have had major impacts on the provision of services in rural areas of New Zealand. This report describes the results of a New Zealand survey of 795 rural consumers. The results emphasise how the problems perceived as most important to people in rural areas are essentially linked to fundamental services such as housing, water, communications, and transport. Though this element of basic needs is covered in the consumer policy literature it is not a feature that tends to be emphasised. The survey also gauges some aspects of rural consumers' knowledge of their entitlements under New Zealand consumer law and their familiarity with, and use of, consumer advisory and support services.     

The Effects of Process and Content Facilitation Restrictiveness on GSS-Mediated Collaborative Learning

Group Support Systems (GSS) technology, extensively applied in decision-making contexts, is now seeing increased application in the educational sector. Previous work has suggested that GSS applications can have significant positive effects on both the process and the outcome of collaborative learning. This study extends this work to examine the effects of process (high/low) and content (high/low) facilitation restrictiveness on GSS-supported collaborative learning. Our results indicate that content facilitation restrictiveness has no significant bearing on student learning. Process facilitation restrictiveness, on the other hand, is more influential, with knowledge acquisition by students requiring a low restrictive environment.     

Measuring risky adolescent cycling behaviour

Adolescents are at a greater risk of being involved in traffic accidents than most other age groups, even before they start driving cars. This article aims to determine the factor structure of a self-report questionnaire measuring adolescent risky cycling behaviour, the ACBQ (Adolescent Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire). The questionnaire's structure was based on the widely used Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ). A sample of secondary school students (N?=?1749; age range: 13-18 years) filled out the questionnaire. Factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure underlying the questionnaire, which was confirmed on two equally large portions of the entire sample. These three underlying factors were identified as errors, common violations and exceptional violations. The ACBQ is a useful instrument for measuring adolescents' risky cycling behaviour.     

Retailing in the 21st century: reflections and prologue to research

Retailing in the 21st century will no doubt be very different from retailing in the 20th century, just as retailing in the 20th century was very different from retailing in the 19th century. To understand and explain current retailing phenomena and retailing-related phenomena, and accurately predict such phenomena, it is necessary to have a coherent and consistent definition of retailing as well as comprehensive retailing theories based on this definition. This introduction to the special issue argues for such a definition and related comprehensive theories.     

Shopping from a List: International Studies of Consumer Online Experiences

In response to the growth of online shopping, consumer groups from around the world participated in two mystery shopping exercises. These exercises, conducted during the Christmas holiday seasons of 1998 and 2000, involved buying a variety of products from web sites located both domestically and abroad. A number of serious problems were identified within the research, especially lack of disclosure of key consumer information and failures in delivering goods and refunding consumers when goods were returned. The research has been used by consumer organizations to enhance consumer education and to lobby governmental and self-regulatory bodies for greater consumer protection in the online environment.     

The role of behavioural factors and opportunity costs in farmers' participation in voluntary agri-environmental schemes: A systematic review

Agri-environmental schemes (AESs) are increasingly implemented to promote the adoption of environmentally friendly practices by farmers. We use a systematic review to explore the role of behavioural factors and opportunity costs in farmers' decisions to participate in AESs in Australia, Europe and North America. Behavioural factors influence how farmers value and perceive options, while opportunity costs relate to farmers' forgone utility when choosing to participate in schemes. We synthesise insights from 79 articles and over 700 factors explaining the participation in AESs. We find that a set of behavioural factors seem consistently connected to participation, including agricultural training, advice and having positive attitudes towards AESs. Moreover, several factors related to opportunity costs also have a rather consistent relationship with AES participation, including market conditions, implementation efforts, profitability, and management and contract flexibility. However, many relationships of behavioural factors and opportunity costs with AES participation are not as consistent and generalizable as sometimes portrayed and require context-specific interpretation. Those factors with mixed results can still provide insights into farmers' participation decisions as several of them are either ‘positively and insignificantly’ or ‘negatively and insignificantly’ related to participation, such as environmental attitude, trust and farm size. These results suggest that their relationship with AES participation depends on other factors or the setting, highlighting interactions and raising important new research questions. Overall, our results provide several entry points for both researchers and policy-makers, highlighting uncertainties in relationships between factors and participation that should be considered when designing policies.     

Productivity and the economic pastoral: Implications for growth

This paper identifies the fundamental principles and ethical norms presented in the first draft of the U.S. Bishops' Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy which apply to the issue of economic productivity. These principles are compared with accepted managerial principles for improving productivity and the similarities noted. Finally, the new challenge of the Economic Pastoral is identified as extending the scope of application of these principles beyond those persons who are working in an enterprise to those persons who are affected by the enterprise. Robert L. Armacost is Assistant Professor of Management Science at Marquette University, and chairperson of the planning committee for Archdiocesan-wide hearings on the Economic Pastoral. He is published in Operations Research and Mathematical Programming.