Female self-perception as barrier to international careers?

It is a matter of fact that women are underrepresented in international management. In most of the articles on female expatriates, the companies' reluctance to send women abroad is usually named as first justification why female managers are rare in the international arena. The reasons cited are manifold, ranging from stereotypical views of the personnel managers to the prejudices women are expected to face abroad. Some authors tried to find additional causes such as dual career couples, cultural factors or the general lack of women in top management. However, only little has been written about the women's own fault for not being selected. Literature on gender-based stereotypes, female self-perception or traditional role models is broad. Typical issues are a perceived lack of self-confidence, stereotypical behaviour or underestimation. But a relation to expatriation is rarely found. Therefore, the aim of this article is to answer if and how women themselves contribute to their under-representation in international management.     

Wage determination in the UK

This paper offers a sysnthesis of a number of important complementary theories of wage determination.The model is estimated and tested with respect to its long-run and dynamic properties.Applying johansen's(1998)FIML estimation procedure,the maximum eigenvalue and the trace tests suggested two cointegrating vectors and estimated and another the underlying theoritical model.We combined both vectors and estimated in a second step an error correction model which was satisfactory with regard to its in sample and out-of-sample performance.None of the assumptions for OLS estimation were violated and the recursive estimation revealed model stability.additionally,the forecasting ability of the model was satisfactory.The main feauture of this model is that conflict elements are of parmount in the UK wage determination.     

Capital Stock, Unemployment and Wages in the UK and Germany

This paper is concerned with the view that capital formation is an important variable in the determination of unemployment and wages in Germany and the UK. Adverse demand shocks affect employment and investment. When shocks reverse, unemployment may not fall to previous levels due to insufficient capital. The empirical results show that unemployment has risen in the last twenty years in both countries due to insufficient investment. Policies that are aimed at stimulating investment may have a permanent effect on unemployment in Germany and the UK.     

Tourism and online photography

This paper documents the use of online travel photo-sharing technologies among Hong Kong residents. The advent of Web 2.0 is changing fundamentally the tourist information search and destination choice process. Yet, to date, no study has documented Web 2.0 usage levels and preferences for certain media for posting travel photographs across an entire community. This study reveals that some 89% of pleasure travelers take photographs and that 41% of them posted their photographs online. Social network sites (SNSs), instant messaging, online photo albums and personal blogs were the most popular media used. In general, people who post photographs online tend to be younger, better educated, and earn a higher income than those who do not. The study determined that most people also use multiple media platforms to disseminate their images. Cluster analysis based on the four major styles of online platform identified five cohorts of users who differed in number and type of media used, demographic profile and travel motive. Implications for destination promotion are discussed.     

Cutting through the clutter: purchase intentions as a function of packaging instrumentality,aesthetics, and symbolism

This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the impact of packaging in marketing, and confirms the importance of perceived instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism in this process. This study examined two types of packaging used by a firm that makes chilled meals. One package had a transparent cover showing the food inside and the other had an opaque wrapper showing a picture of the food. Sales for the product with the transparent cover were 30% lower than for the same product packaged in the opaque wrapper. An experimental study examined the effects of packaging on buying intentions. Supermarket shoppers (n = 100) were shown the same product in one of the two packages and answered a survey about the mediating variables: perceived instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism, and the dependent variable, purchase intentions. As predicted, participants expressed more interest in buying the product with the opaque packaging. In addition, the transparent packaging was perceived as more instrumental, less aesthetic, and less symbolic of quality than opaque packaging. Perceived aesthetics and symbolism, but not instrumentality, were documented to mediate this process. Analyzing packaging using the instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism model can help marketers and designers develop more effective packaging for various products, contexts, and consumer groups. The study views packaging as a critical marketing tool and not merely a logistic tool, and identifies one psychological mechanism that underlies the impact of packaging on purchase intentions.     

The Neighbourhood Policy of the European Union

The European Neighbourhood Policy aims at creating a ring of stable, friendly and democratic countries surrounding the European Union. While this aim is generally accepted across the Union, major differences persist as to how it should be achieved. Where does the ENP stand today? What is its profile, potential and perspective?     

Decomposing trust and trustworthiness

What motivates people to trust and be trustworthy? Is trust solely “calculative,” based on the expectation of trustworthiness, and trustworthiness only reciprocity? Employing a within-subject design, we run investment and dictator game experiments in Russia, South Africa and the United States. Additionally, we measured risk preferences and expectations of return. Expectations of return account for most of the variance in trust, but unconditional kindness also matters. Variance in trustworthiness is mainly accounted for by unconditional kindness, while reciprocity plays a comparatively small role. There exists some heterogeneity in motivation but people behave surprisingly similarly in the three countries studied.     

GST Compliance in the New Zealand Property Sector

Different schemes used in property transactions raised concern in New Zealand that insufficient goods and services tax (GST) was being paid on the sale of property. To improve tax compliance in the property sector, various measures have been undertaken. Tax auditing of property transactions has been strengthened since 2007 and in 2009 the government issued a discussion document that proposed a legislative solution to some specific GST problems. Moreover, several court cases have ruled against abusive GST schemes. This paper estimates the impact on GST collection and compliance in the property sector following these actions. The findings suggest that GST compliance in the property sector has increased.