Valuing Open Space and Land-Use Patterns in Urban Watersheds

This article presents the results of a hedonic property value analysis for an urban watershed in New Haven County, Connecticut. We use spatially referenced housing and land-use data to capture the effect of environmental variables around the house location. We calculate and incorporate data on open space, land-use diversity, and other environmental variables to capture spatial variation in environmental quality around each house location. We are ultimately interested in determining whether variables that are reflective of spatial diversity do a better job of describing human preferences for housing choice than broad categories of rural versus urban areas. Using a rich data set of over 4,000 houses, we study these effects within a watershed that includes areas of high environmental quality and low environmental quality as well as varying patterns of socioeconomic conditions. Our results suggest that, in addition to structural characteristics, variables describing neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics and variables describing land use and environmental quality are influential in determining human values. We also find that the scale at which we measure these spatially defined environmental variables is important.     

Aiding and Abetting Employer Discrimination: The Job Applicant's Role

Despite the complex nature of discrimination in employment, antidiscrimination legislation in most countries has placed almost exclusive responsibility on one party, the employer, who may base employment decisions on illegal grounds, by using personal information (such as age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, etc.) provided by job applicants. This study examined 107 real résumés from Australian managerial applicants to determine how much personal information is provided in résumés. It was found that although employers and recruitment consultants are prohibited from seeking personal information from applicants, this information is often either provided directly or indirectly by applicants in their résumés. Thus this paper suggests that job applicants aid and abet employer discrimination in the selection process. Methods to prevent or minimize discrimination in the recruitment and selection phases of the employment process are suggested.     

International Transfer Pricing for Business Operations in China: Inducements, Regulation and Practice

This paper provides an empirical analysis of international transfer pricing in the People's Republic of China. The examination of the business environment in China reveals a mixed inducement for transfer pricing decisions by foreign investment enterprises (FIEs). The legislation on transfer pricing in China is similar to that of its major trading partners. Competition among local governments for foreign investment, inadequate resources for tax enforcement, and inadequate documentation by taxpayers hinder tax audits on transfer pricing. An analysis of aggregate import and export data does not support the allegation that, in general, FIEs shift profits out of China by over-pricing their imports and under-pricing their exports. However, there was some evidence of outward income-shifting in certain key sectors.     

The intercultural communication motivation scale: An instrument to assess motivational training needs of candidates for international assignments

The Intercultural Communication Motivation Scale (ICMS) is a tool to assess the intercultural communication motivation of candidates for international assignments. The ICMS performed well in four studies conducted with undergraduate students in New Zealand, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany. Generally showing a stable fi ve‐factor structure, high test‐retest correlations, very high Cronbach's alphas, and almost no social desirability bias in self and peer evaluations, the ICMS is sensitive enough to detect test‐retest differences. Thus, socially responsible strategic international HR programs can use this scale to reliably evaluate employees and their families for specifi c international locations. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Securing the Repeal of a Tax on the 'raw material of thought'

When first introduced in 1712, and throughout the eighteenth century, the stamp duty on newspapers was primarily intended as a revenue raising measure with censorship as a subsidiary, but not unintended, by-product (Sadler & Oats, 2002). In the nineteenth century the stamp duty became known, more justifiably, as a 'tax on knowledge' and it was increasingly criticised as being an overt form of censorship. A campaign in the 1830s to have the tax repealed resulted in a compromise, in 1836, in the form of a significant reduction in the duty from 4d to 1d per half sheet of newspaper. The stamp duty was eventually repealed in 1855, largely as a result of the activities of 'The Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee', a campaign run on different lines to that of the 1830s. This paper examines this second abolition campaign, which adopted unusual tactics in pursuit of the repeal of the tax. It demonstrates the tensions between social reformers and business interests in securing the repeal of a dysfunctional tax.     

The fashion‐conscious behaviours of mature female consumers

Under‐appreciation of mature consumers as a numerous and comparatively wealthy market segment has resulted in not only lost revenues for business, but also lost consumption and service opportunities for the elderly. In response to expressed needs for more research into actual and desired consumption by older consumers, this study examined the apparel and shopping preferences of mature women in America. Independent living residents were surveyed concerning fashion consciousness, fashion information sources and shopping behaviours. Young and mature consumers’ reactions to female apparel ensembles were compared. Mature subjects purchased apparel for pleasure or need, but less for conformity. Decisions were influenced more by fit and comfort than by fashion, despite suggestions that dressing stylishly was important. New fashions were encountered via catalogue illustrations, social gatherings and window displays. Subjects high in fashion consciousness had greater financial and social involvement with fashion, greater chronological‐to‐cognitive age differences and larger clothing budgets. Young and mature consumers’ responses to apparel illustrations differed significantly. As the mature market expands, attention to age‐divergent definitions of fashion (such as those based upon admiration of comfort) will determine the success of apparel businesses. Assessment of cognitive age will facilitate identification of those mature consumers most predisposed toward fashion consumption.     

A comparison of parent and child perspectives about barriers to and facilitators of bicycle helmet and booster seat use

Abstract

To date, little work has compared similarities and differences between parent and young people’s perceptions of barriers to and facilitators of bicycle helmet and booster seat usage. Our goal was to conduct such a comparison in order to inform future safety campaigns. Eleven focus groups with a total of 68 parents and 11 focus groups with a total of 76 young people were conducted. Recruitment was conducted and focus groups were held in diverse neighbourhoods to facilitate participation by families from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Overall, parents and their children agreed on 50% of the barriers identified for bicycle helmet use and approximately 40% of the barriers for booster seats. Barriers common to both types of equipment for parents and children included comfort, style and design, and fear of teasing. Common facilitators included perceived safety, and comfort. While there was considerable overlap between the perspectives of parents and young people, there were also differences, underscoring the importance of addressing both perspectives. The barriers and facilitators identified were modifiable to a large extent; based on these, recommendations for future injury prevention campaigns were outlined.     

Mirror neuron research and Adam Smith’s concept of sympathy: Three points of correspondence

In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith asserts that humans have an innate interest in the fortunes of other people and desire for sympathy with others. In Smith??s theory, sympathy is an imperfectly reflected combination of emotion and judgment when one observes someone (the agent) in a particular situation, and imagines being that person in that situation. That imagination produces a degree of interconnectedness among individuals. Recent neuroscience research on mirror neurons provides evidence consistent with Smith??s assertion, suggesting that humans have an innate capability to understand the mental states of others at a neural level. A mirror neuron fires both when an agent acts and when an agent observes that action being performed by another; the name derives from the ??mirroring?? of the action in the brain of the observer. This neural network and the capabilities arising from it have three points of correspondence with important aspects of the Smithian sympathetic process: an agent??s situation as a stimulus or connection between two similar but separate agents, an external perspective on the actions of others, and an innate imaginative capacity that enables an observer to imagine herself as the agent, in the agent??s situation. Both this sympathetic process and the mirror neuron system predispose individuals toward coordination of the expression of their emotions and of their actions. In Smith??s model this decentralized coordination leads to the emergence of social order, bolstered and reinforced by the emergence and evolution of informal and formal institutions grounded in the sympathetic process. Social order grounded in this sympathetic process relies on a sense of interconnectedness and on shared meanings of actions, and the mirror neuron system predisposes humans toward such interconnection.     

New development: Value for money (VFM) in public services—the importance of organizational culture

VFM has been a key aspect of public service management for several decades and its importance has been raised in recent years as a consequence of austerity. Organizational culture is recognized in research literature as a key driver of organizational performance. However, little attention has been paid to the topic of organizational culture in relation to VFM in public services. This article presents the findings of new research in this area.     

Deans' perceptions of published rankings of business programs

Using a survey of college of business deans, the authors investigate perceptions of published rankings of academic programs. Published rankings have become quite prominent, and anecdotal evidence suggests great efforts are being undertaken to be included in rankings or enhance rankings. The authors conducted a survey of business school deans to gain a better understanding of their perceptions of published rankings, and found that the majority of deans included in the survey did not perceive rankings to be reflective of underlying program quality. However, the majority chose to pursue rankings because of the perceived benefits to the university, students, and alumni. The authors also found statistically significant differences in deans' perceptions across universities with different accreditation statuses, sizes, and funding sources.