The intercultural communication cultural immersion experience: Preparing leaders for a global future

The dynamics of globalization mean we face a reality wherein leaders are called upon to communicate effectively in cultural situations unfamiliar to them. This situation brings new challenges for communication and leadership educators. Our article describes a cultural immersion experience called The Cagli Project, where communication and leadership students learn effective intercultural communication skills for leadership formation while studying in Italy. The philosophical and experiential aspects of the program are described along with leadership outcomes. The article ends with a discussion of the transferability of this model to alternative programs. Perhaps nothing has had a more profound effect on human communication and hence leadership in the past half century than the movement of people around the globe and the growing diversity of world society. Globalization is the mantra that seems to be driving much that is new in higher education today. It has its roots in the “global economy” and seems most relevant to the business disciplines, but there is a sub‐text to globalization that resonates throughout all our institutions, and that is diversity (Caputo, 2011).     

Consumers’ Preferences and Attitudes Toward Local Food Products

In recent years, consumers’ interest in local food has significantly increased. Several studies in the agricultural economics and marketing literature have analyzed mainly consumers’ preferences for local food products. In this study, we perform a consumer segmentation with regard to consumer behavior toward local food. We collected data from a survey conducted during summer 2010 in Naples, South Italy. Consumer segments were identified taking account of five aspects: (1) food consumption styles; (2) perception of local food; (3) purchasing motives; (4) perceived quality of local food; and (5) sociodemographic characteristics. They could be profiled as ethnocentric consumers, environmentalists, strict localists, and quality labeling oriented.     

Worlds in collision: Is a rational energy policy possible for Western Europe?

The image of worlds in collision is apt as the overlay to any discussion of energy policy in Western Europe. It is suggested here that there are several rationalities or managing strategies that people choose to use to deal effectively or cope with the world around them. Of the five basic paradigms, three play an active role in the social conflict over energy policy. Two of these are nearly diametrically opposed in that what one ‘sees’ as the problem, the other ‘sees’ as the solution. A bridging group provides an institutional framework so the opposing two can co-exist. From acceptance of these different realities as valid and necessary to near- as well as long-term human interests, a policy approach is suggested. It is addressed primarily to this bridging group, and is designed to limit or remove the blocking role played by one of the other active groups.     

A fiscal vaccine against the Dutch disease

The Dutch disease is a concern when a country is blessed with positive terms of trade (ToT) shocks. This article assesses the effects of a structural balance fiscal rule – which saves part of the revenues from better ToT – in limiting the real exchange rate (RER) appreciation. We find that the elasticity of the RER to ToT has declined (or is zero) in Chile and Norway, during the years in which the fiscal rule has been in place, although only for the part of ToT that accrue to government revenues.     

Tax competition and federal equalization schemes with decentralized leadership

Regional governments compete by setting capital taxes in anticipation of the central government’s fiscal equalization and income redistribution policies. I start by demonstrating that the constrained socially optimal allocation satisfies the Pareto efficient conditions; therefore, it may be first best. It is also shown that the subgame perfect equilibrium for the game played by regional and central governments is socially optimal. The anticipation of equalization of marginal utilities of public consumption and equalization of marginal utilities of private consumption provides regional governments with correct incentives in the setting of capital taxes, preventing the phenomenon known as “race to the bottom.”     

Spear phishing in a barrel: Insights from a targeted phishing campaign

Executives in many industries have fallen prey to socially engineered attacks known as spear phishing. Using highly targeted emails, social engineers trick victims into performing unintended actions by masquerading as legitimate actors. To shed light on effective spear phishing training, we conducted a multi-round experiment. Our results indicate that training users with individual loss messaging might increase the effectiveness of the training. Additionally, we found potential evidence that organizational training can lead to increased overall spear phishing awareness, even for those not directly trained. Despite these promising results, however, individuals’ susceptibility to highly targeted spear phishing attacks remains troubling for practitioners and researchers.     

What agricultural and food policies do U.S. consumers prefer? A best–worst scaling approach

Consumer welfare effects from policy changes are traditionally calculated using estimates of consumer preferences for the underlying goods and services affected. This conventional approach is indirect, does not consider preferences people may have for the policies themselves, and makes it difficult to easily compare relative preferability of a large set of policy options. In this paper, we use the best–worst scaling approach to determine consumers’ preferences for 13 policies. A nationwide survey of 1,056 U.S. consumers indicates the highest levels of support for investments in agricultural research and requirements of food and agricultural literacy standards in public education. Fat, calorie, and soda taxes are the least popular; fewer than one-third of respondents are in favor of these three policies.     

Sustainability and financial performance of small and medium sized enterprises: A bibliometric and systematic literature review

Based on a 20‐year dataset collected from the Web of Science database, this study aims to present a comprehensive knowledge map of the intellectual structure of the field of study of sustainability and financial performances in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). A bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review method were employed by analyzing articles published between 1999 and 2018, using the VOSViewer software. The study provides an overview of articles, authors, the most influential journals, and themes of research. The results reveal the existence of three themes in research: the role of innovation and entrepreneurship and their impact on sustainability in SMEs (cluster 1), corporate social responsibility in the context of SMEs (cluster 2), and green management and environmental issues for SMEs (cluster 3). In sum, this paper discusses prominent insights from the research analyses and recommends future research directions for the field.     

Sport entrepreneurship: A synthesis of existing literature and future perspectives

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Sport entrepreneurship is progressively emerging as an extremely significant stream of research. Accordingly, scholars are increasingly...