The Experiencing Self and the Remembering Self: Implications for Leisure Science

ABSTRACT

In this research reflection we question the way leisure experience is commonly understood and how leisure science is commonly conducted. Specifically, we focus on advances in multiple self-theory popularized by Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow, an in-depth examination of human thought processes. After establishing Kahneman's foundational perspective, we apply his thinking to leisure experience and leisure science by reviewing recent scholarship focused on the “experiencing” and “remembering” selves (2000). We conclude the reflection by discussing the implications of Kahneman's thinking for the use of self-reports by leisure scientists, as well as call for greater congruence between the selves we seek to research and our selected research methods.     

The use of negotiation strategies among recreational participants with different involvement levels: the case of recreational swimmers

This paper is aimed to segment recreational swimmers according to their involvement level, profile the involvement groups according to demographic variables, and further test the role of negotiation strategies in the development of swimming involvement. Two hundred and sixty (N?=?260) recreational swimmers participated in the study and completed Kyle et al.'s three-facet involvement scale and Alexandris et al.’s five-dimension leisure negotiation scale. The results of cluster analysis revealed three distinct involvement groups: high, medium and low involved recreational swimmers. The high involved group consisted mainly of females, middle-aged and married individuals; the medium involved group did not have a clear demographic profile, while the low involved group consisted mainly of males and young individuals. The three involvement groups had statistical significant scores in all the five negotiation strategy dimensions, with the high involved individuals having the highest scores and the low involved individuals having the lowest ones. These results provide empirical support for the negotiation proposition, which was developed by Jackson, Crawford, and Godbey. They further contribute to the existing leisure literature by showing how demographic segmentation can be used in combination with psychographic variables in order to profile groups of participants.     

Policy risk,strategic decisions and contagion effects: Firm‐specific considerations

Research summary : In this article, we investigate the firm‐specific environment and its impact on firm strategy focusing on adverse changes in the policy environment and their effect on divestitures. We argue that experiencing a negative change in the firm‐specific policy environment causes firms to reassess their exposure to policy risk and their ability to manage their policy environment, making them more likely to divest. Operationalizing negative shifts in the firm‐specific policy environment through formal policy disputes between firms and governments, we find that following a dispute, firms are more likely to divest both in the country where the dispute occurs and in other countries in the same region. However, the impact of disputes on divestitures is firm specific, applying only to firms directly involved in a dispute . Managerial summary : What is the impact of change in the firm‐specific environment on firm strategy? We argue that when firms directly experience a negative change in their policy environment that is specific to them, they negatively reassess their exposure to policy risk and their ability to manage their policy environment, which makes them more likely to undertake a divestiture. We analyze formal disputes between firms and governments that arise from adverse changes in policy and find that, following a dispute, firms are more likely to divest in the country where the dispute occurs and in other countries in the same region. However, the impact of disputes on divestitures is firm specific as it applies only to firms directly involved in a dispute . Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国农业生产非效率的影响因素分析

本文对影响中国农业生产有效性的因素做了细致的考察。本文所使用的方法包括两个步骤：首先用数据包络法估计农业生产效率指数,第二步使用截尾回归模型及半参数自导法解释生产效率指数的差异。本文运用来自中国大约2000个县级的截面数据进行实证分析,这些数据能够反映出许多与中国农业生产低效率相关的特征。本文发现：首先,工业的发达往往与农业生产的低效率相联系,一种可能的解释是：工业生产所带来的外部性,例如空气和水源的污染会影响农业生产;其次,信贷资金占总收入的比率越高,该地区的农业生产的效率就越低,这一结果可能反映出了过量信贷和信贷门槛偏低的潜在问题;第三,如果一个县的参与农业劳动的劳动力比率较高,那么其农业生产的效率也会较低,因此,促进劳动力从农业部门（不一定是农村）的流出会带来农业效率的提升,这一结果也同时对鼓励农村地区人口的大面积迁徙政策提出了质疑。     

Sufficient Decisions in Multi‐Sided and Multiproduct Markets

We show that in many models where firms make multiple decisions, analysis can be made more tractable by re‐formulating the model into one in which each firm makes a single choice, which we call a sufficient decision. The transformation allows application of standard techniques in these settings, including pass‐through for tax incidence and upward pricing pressure for merger analysis. The transformation works because the assumption of profit maximization links the firms’ decisions together. Examples include models of monopoly and oligopoly in two‐sided markets, where a natural sufficient decision may be the number of transactions that the firm facilitates, and multiproduct markets.     

The market timing of corporate bond reopenings

The objective of this paper is to test whether companies use corporate bond reopenings to exploit overvalued debt. Reopenings represent new debt offerings, which are characterized through identical configurations as an already outstanding bond, but with a market-adjusted price. Their advantage lies with the fact that fewer preparations are required compared to a new regular offering. For a set of European companies our results suggest that stockholders respond less positively to the announcements of reopenings than to regular offerings. This effect is stronger, the higher the pre-issue bond price run-up, and the stock price reaction is directly linked to the change in the firm’s debt value. Additionally, the prices of the reopened bonds drop on the announcement day. Therefore, in line with the window of opportunity theory, the firm’s management appears to use reopenings as a fast and inexpensive way to raise debt capital, which leads stockholders and bondholders to suspect an overvaluation and therefore to adjust their price expectations. The analysis also reveals that the redistribution of wealth from bondholders to stockholders is a major determinant for the observed price changes.     

Multivariate lifetime distributions for the exponential dispersion family

We consider a general form of a multivariate lifetime model in which dependence is induced via a common shock component. The univariate marginal distributions come from the well-known and widely applied exponential dispersion family that includes the normal, compound-Poisson, gamma and negative binomial distributions. Any combination of truncation or censoring, either left or right, is considered, for which all moments are derived. This allows for the model to be calibrated to any affine transformation of lifetime data.     

Time‐use and well‐being impacts of travel‐to‐work and travel‐for‐work

This article contributes to our understanding of the complex patterns of travel‐to‐work and travel‐for‐work which increasingly characterise highly skilled employment, using 2015 data from a UK Midlands study comprising an online survey and follow‐up interviews. Travel‐to‐work essentially lengthens the working day, and is difficult to use productively, especially when commuting by car. Travel‐for‐work, by contrast, results in intense schedules especially when requiring overnight stays. Ownership of travel‐for‐work is ambiguous: it is employer driven, and travel time is often spent productively using mobile technologies, but is rarely rewarded with TOIL. While general dissatisfaction is reported with the commute, negative effects of travel‐for‐work (family, health, reduced leisure time) are mediated by positive impacts including experience of new working cultures, and infrequency of travel. Four factors appear central to the differing well‐being impacts: (1) frequency of travel; (2) ability to plan travel; (3) productive use of travel time, and; (4) reciprocal benefits of travel.