Last Call: decreasing drunk driving among 21-34-year-old bar patrons

Any effort to decrease the toll of drunk driving must include efforts directed at people who drink in bars, particularly young adults who use motor vehicles after drinking. We designed a multifaceted social marketing campaign, Last Call, to increase the use of designated drivers and safe rides homes among 21-34-year olds. There were three components to the intervention: (1) use of taxi stands to promote taxi use; (2) point-of-sale information to patrons at partner bars and (3) a mass media campaign to support the designated driver/safe ride home message. Among the heaviest drinkers, the programme significantly increased the use of designated drivers and increased the use of taxis by 63%.     

Land, landlords and sustainable livelihoods: The impact of agrarian reform on a coconut hacienda in the Philippines

Agrarian reform has been a key theme on the development agenda of many countries in the Global South for decades. Whilst such interventions are often pursued for political goals and in the interests of empowerment, there is often a mismatch between these goals and the actual outcomes achieved. Within this context, this study investigates the impacts of agrarian reform in Del Rosario, a former coconut hacienda in the Philippines. This is done in an attempt to explore whether agrarian reform has facilitated the creation of sustainable livelihoods among its beneficiaries, in particular, and in their agrarian reform community, in general. The impacts of reform are examined in relation to four themes - economic, social, demographic and environmental. Overall, the study concludes that agrarian reform has not brought about sustainable livelihoods in the former coconut hacienda. People's livelihoods, especially those derived from copra farming, remain at a subsistence level. At most, at an economic level agrarian reform has brought about improved access to land among its beneficiaries. Nevertheless, it has empowered the farmers by giving them greater freedom and has increased their sense of well-being, as well as enabling them to improve their families’ life prospects and strengthen social capital.     

Another look at the relationship between socioeconomic factors and the black-white health benefit inequality

This paper illustrates the black-white disparity in health benefit coverage and the socioeconomic variables-unemployment, income, and education. The health benefit disparity is strongly related to the disparity in underlying socioeconomic variables. Moreover, the time-series examination reveals that the change in white workers' health insurance coverage is largely determined by its year-to-year persistence and the labor market tightness (or the business cycle), while that of black workers is largely determined by the change in their earnings with a slight persistence. The effect of the change in annual earnings seems to dominate the effect of the labor market condition (unemployment rate) and other variables. Finally, although marginally significant, an increase in the attainment of higher education (college) has a positive effect on the black-white health benefit disparity.     

Using a mobile application to test the impact of giving feedback onteam-level conflict

The authors explored using a mobile application called DevelapMe for 278 business undergraduates in 54 teams to give real-time peer-based feedback during a 5-week group project. Two online surveys, Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), were administered. Results included finding three promising, new give-feedback scales: positive rating with comments, negative rating with comments, and negative/neutral rating without comments. Relationship conflict and task conflict were the outcomes. Relationship conflict significantly increased from T1 to T2. Only positive rating with comments had a significant relationship to T2 relational conflict and task conflict. Research exposing students to real-time feedback apps will prepare them for future work in teams.     

Co-location as a catalyst for service innovation: a study of Scottish health and social care

Academic literature and policy on co-location of local public services focus on the cost benefits. Other benefits and outcomes of co-location, including service innovations benefiting users, are under-conceptualized. This paper suggests a framework for evaluating co-location as a learning environment for innovation, drawing on new case studies of five Community Health Partnerships in Scotland charged with more closely coordinating health and social care. We conclude that partnerships using co-location are benefiting from additional service innovations.     

Differentiated regulation: the case of charities

The increasing number and influence of charities in the economy, evidence of mismanagement and the need for information for policymaking are all reasons for establishing charity regulators. Public interest and public choice theories explain charity regulation which aims to increase public trust and confidence in charities (and thus increase voluntarism and philanthropy) and to limit tax benefits to specific organisations and donors. Nevertheless, regulation is resource intensive, and growing pressure on government budgets requires efficiencies to be found. This study proposes regulation differentiated according to charities' main resource providers, to reduce costs and focus regulatory effort, and provides a feasible segmentation.     

Does the Presence of Female Executives Curb Earnings Management? Evidence from Korea

We investigate the role of female executives in curbing earnings management behaviour in Korea, a country known for its strong male‐dominant culture. In a sample of Korean firms from 2002 to 2010, we find that female presence in top management is negatively associated with discretionary accruals, suggesting that gender diversity in senior management deters opportunistic financial reporting even in a highly male‐dominant corporate environment. Further, this association is primarily observed in firms with stronger (weaker) female (male) dominance. This finding is consistent with the idea that female executives can exert more influence on corporate decisions in a more female‐friendly environment. These findings have implications for academics and practitioners seeking to understand the impact of the role of top executive gender diversity in corporate accounting practices.     

Changing management roles in the Scottish NHS: implications for management learning and development

The UK government's austerity means that public service providers, such as the National Health Service (NHS), are looking for efficiencies from service integration and collaborative working. This paper highlights how NHS (Scotland) management is coping with these changes and how the role of the manager and the nature of management development is being transformed. New forms and processes of management learning and development are needed for collaborative partnership working in multi-agency public service environments.     

Risky business—reconceptualizing risk and innovation in public services

This paper explores the relationship between risk and innovation in public services, presenting the state of the literature across different disciplines and the academic and policy literature. It suggests a novel framework to approach risk, emphasising the importance of differentiating between different types of risk and risk management. The paper offers a typology of risk types and management approaches that indicates different effects on the type of public service innovation. It concludes by considering the implications for theory and practice.     

The Role of Stock Markets in the Asian-Pacific Region

This paper identifies the role of stock markets in developing economies with a focus on the Asian-Pacific region. The region's markets generally do not play a major role in resource allocation. The stock exchanges of the region are primarily secondary markets facilitating portfolio construction by domestic and international investors. The paper concentrates on secondary market activity and the controls regulators use to contain excessive speculation and price volatility. It also covers the role of stock markets in the recent financial crisis in the region.