Economic development,cultural differences and FDI

The literature has long analysed the effects of national cultural distance on the volume of cross-border FDIs. Considering the increase in significance of FDI originating from developing countries, this study compares the effect of cultural differences on the stock of FDI from and to countries of various levels of economic development to explain how economic development affects the impact of cultural distance on FDI. Results suggest that the cultural differences tend to be bigger barriers for multinationals from developing countries, but they also learn quickly how to deal with such differences.     

新制度经济学有争议的四大问题

新制度经济学在发展过程中面临着一些有争议的问题,从方法论上讲,存在着个人主义方法论与整体主义方法论之争;从理论基础上讲,存在着是新古典经济学还是演化经济学作为新制度经济学理论基础的问题;从人类行为研究来讲,存在着规则遵循者与理性最大化之间的关系问题;从制度形成来讲,存在着自然演化与人为设计之争.     

The role of information sources and image on the intention to visit a medical tourism destination: a cross-cultural analysis

This paper intends to analyze: 1) how information sources, eWOM, and image influence the intention to visit a medical tourism destination;2) the moderating role of culture and 3) cross-cultural differences based on Hofstede’s individualism and uncertainty avoidance. A total of 534 responses were collected using a panel of internet users from six different countries and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and a series of t-tests. The results show that information sources influence cognitive impressions and in conjunction with overall image and medical cognitive image influence the intention to visit a medical tourism destination. Furthermore, individualism and uncertainty avoidance have a moderating effect among these variables and cross-cultural differences exist in the degree of importance given to information sources, eWOM, image perceptions, and intention.     

中西文化对“得体”认识的异同——以汉语修辞学和当代英语语用学为视角

无论是汉语修辞学还是当代英语语用学,都将“得体”视为最高原则。然而我们也意识到言语的得体性是相对的,有特定的文化特点。中国文化由于受儒家思想的影响,认为合“礼”就是得体的,而以美国为代表的西方文化的核心价值是个人主义,在言语行为的具体表现上也就处处体现这种价值观。这并不影响中西方对得体的共同认识,差异只是表面,只要交际双方能做到得体就能确保交际顺利进行。     

理性选择理论：优势、局限性与可能出路

理性选择理论在政治学领域占有极其重要的地位。它建立在“经济人”假设基础之上,视社会个体为惟一真实的研究对象和分析单位,将政治行为等同于经济学意义上交换活动,这三者一并构成了理性选择理论形式优美、逻辑严谨的方法论体系———方法论个体主义、“经济人”假设和经济学交换范式。然而,理性选择理论的优势与成功却遮掩不了其方法论自身的局限性———方法论个体主义孤立地将个人作为基本分析单位,忽视了社会结构、社会规范与意识形态对个体的影响与形构;“经济人”假设将政治参与者的属性简单地给予预设,不能看清楚“政治人”的全面属性;经济学交换范式将政治活动简单地类比为经济交换活动,忽视了政治活动的复杂性。理性选择理论若要更有效地解释政治现象和研究政治问题,需要正视和克服局限,对方法论个体主义、“经济人”假设和经济学交换范式作出修正与改进。     

The missing links: cultural,software, task and personal influences on computer self-efficacy

Culture exerts a fundamental effect on employees and their use of technologies. We examine the influence of culture (and other factors) on computer self-efficacy (CSE). CSE, or employees' judgments about their capabilities to use a specific software system, is important given its relationship with work performance. By drawing a sample from two different countries, we show that culture affects CSE indirectly through employees' preferences for individualism and task interdependence. Furthermore, individualism, task interdependence and software personal innovativeness relate positively, whereas task ambiguity and software complexity associate negatively with CSE. Finally, we discuss several implications for human resource management.     

The work–family interface in Korea: can family life enrich work life?

Using data obtained from 363 Korean civil servants, we examine the mechanism of family-to-work enrichment. Although individualistic Western work–family literature predicts that resources from the family role, both instrumental and affective, will improve the work role by mitigating the negative job stress–job satisfaction relationship, data from collectivistic Korean society show an unexpected opposite effect – an accentuating, not a mitigating moderating effect. Family resources – especially affective resources – may function as an additional work stressor rather than enrich the work role under collectivists' weak identity separation between work and family roles. This study thus reveals the cultural biases in the extant Western work–family literature by showing that the cultural variance in role identity separation/integration may underlie the mechanism of family-to-work enrichment.     

方法论个人主义的经济学与社会学解释——基于行动的视角

方法论所关心的问题是人们应当通过何种途径才能较好地理解人类社会和自然界中现象的真实本质．并指导着人们如何更加有效地把握行动的取向。纯粹性的整体主义和个人主义的方法论都是有失偏颇的,哈耶克社会性的个人主义和舒茨的主体间性理论都能较好地说明方法论的新取向,也正是他们的开创性理论预示了现代西方社会学对社会学两大主题的融合问题所给予的关注,同时他们的理论也使社会学方法论显现出实践性特点。     

个人主义:乡村社会组织化思想资源和价值支撑——基于西方路径与经验反思的视角

不同的文化信仰会引起不同的组织发展路径,进而影响博弈的规则,并最终影响到社会制度性结构的确定。西方经过了启蒙运动中的自由主义、功利主义及个人主义等思潮洗礼,形成了社会现代性的基本精神特征:以市场社会为基础的个性解放与主体自由、社会契约、经济自由。其客观实在就是独立于国家权力的自治的市民社会。西方的基层社会组织化、农业合作化正是这一现代性的历史趋向在经历了深刻的社会化修正后的一项成果。将根植于西方个人主义土壤中的社会组织化制度——合作社,移植到中国的以传统集体主义为核心价值观的社会中,其发生异化或难以很好成长是情理之中的事情。这也就是50年来"中国一直没有一种合作制机构真正成功过"的文化根源和精神制约。因为组织化、合作化首先孕育于个人主义的发展过程,然后才逐渐形成。     

个人主义、利益分配与集体利益的实现条件

由理性个体组成的团体在怎样的情况下可以实现集体的利益?文章基于个人主义的方法论,从利益分配的视角推导了集体利益得以实现的一般条件。研究表明:作为社会状态"理想类型"的集体利益,其得以实现的条件依次可以表述为:分配冲突的公正解决、个体正义性条件、零贪婪激励、正义规则对贪婪的抑制与规则选择冲突的公正解决等五个方面。探索集体利益实现的一般原理对于如何选择和设计适当的制度以实现人类社会的理想目标具有重要的规范含义。