Taking a “Peak” at Leisure Travelers’ Positive Emotions

There is ample evidence to suggest that positive emotions lead to valuable life outcomes. This study examines daily positive emotion development before, during, and after a leisure travel experience. The study measured positive emotions on a daily basis in 25 mature adult participants before, during, and after two leisure travel experiences. Consistent with the “peak” model in previous research, positive emotions overall—and joy and interest in particular—increased before leisure travel, were elevated during travel, and declined afterward. Implications for practice include managing positive emotions before and after leisure travel. Future research should consider positive emotions in other populations and other leisure experiences.     

Problems in the Reform of Land Tenure

Tha PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES of inducing land tenure reforms such as Land Value Taxation are enormous. Fundamental changes in land tenure or tax structure can have a great revitalizing effect throughout a whole national, or even indeed international, economy. But they can also cause great dislocation of and disturbances to individuals, industries, and government agencies well adjusted to old patterns. Usually major reform movements can progress rapidly only when some disaster or slump creates a general dissatisfaction and desire for a clean sweep and a fresh new approach.     

Book review

A study was undertaken to examine how Chinese advertising professionals perceive issues surrounding advertising education. Participants were solicited from advertising agencies in the cities of Beijing and Hangzhou. The findings indicate that Chinese advertising professionals hold a positive attitude towards advertising education and strongly believe that more undergraduate and graduate advertising programmes are needed in China. Degrees from advertising education programmes abroad were also seen in a favourable light and were thought to lead to faster raises and promotions. The results also established an initial picture of the individual and agency demographics of today's Chinese advertising professionals. The implications for Chinese and Western advertising education programmes are discussed.     

The impact of revolving door practice and policy on nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of auditor independence

This study investigates whether an ex-auditor’s employment with an audit client impairs nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of auditor independence, and whether the strength of the US revolving door policy improves their perceptions of auditor independence. Despite nonprofessional investors owning over one-third of the US equity holdings, the literature has not examined how revolving door policy impacts their perceptions of auditor independence. Two between-subjects experiments examine these issues. The first experiment finds that investors perceive the ex-auditor’s integrity to be significant in explaining the firm’s decision to manage earnings, irrespective of the firm’s previous working relationship with the ex-auditor. The results from experiment two indicate that strengthening the revolving door policy above that of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ policy does not improve perceptions of auditor independence. Academics may be interested in triangulating the independence ‘in appearance’ results of this study to the independence ‘in fact’ results of other studies, since the Securities and Exchange Commission asserts that both facets of independence are equally important. The results may also be of interest to academics and practitioners, as prior research suggests that restricting auditors’ moves to management positions with the client impairs firms’ abilities to hire quality auditors.     

Workforce motivation in Japan: an examination of gender differences and management perceptions

As Japan enters the new century, pending workforce shortages – a function of low birth rates and an aging population – increase the need to address gender issues in organizations. Throughout the past four decades, the number of female workers in Japan has been growing, although full-time female participation in the Japanese workforce remains below the levels of some other industrialized nations. Despite the growing importance that the Japanese female labor force is expected to play, relatively little is known about women's attitudes toward work motivation in Japan. Using a two-factor, Herzberg intrinsic/extrinsic approach to motivation, we examine the applicability of such a model in Japan, and compare the attitudes of female and male workers, as well as management and non-management. Our findings include: (1) support for the applicability of a Herzberg, two-factor model in Japan; (2) Japanese men in the workforce tending to value intrinsic motivators more than extrinsic factors; (3) female workers in Japan rating extrinsic factors higher than their male counterparts; and (4) managers' opinions of what motivates employees not constituting a refined match to those of female employees, especially with respect to extrinsic motivation. In multi-gender Japanese organizations, management will potentially benefit from a better understanding and functional integration of important gender nuances into their motivation strategies.