Business travellers' connections to home: ICTs supporting work‐life balance

This paper examines the role of information communication technology in enabling connections to home for work‐related travellers. Although digital connectivity for work‐related tasks are well researched, the use of digital technology for home communication is under‐researched. The study draws on a qualitative study of UK‐based organisations and business travellers to explore how these travellers use ICTs for personal use while ‘on the move’. The findings reveal that organisations are supportive of work‐life balance for employees, but fail to consider specific needs of those whose work takes them away from home. For business travellers, insights are gained into practices around connecting to home and the value of this virtual presence for relationships with family while absent and work‐life balance. The study identifies and discusses practice occurring around three activities; checking in, maintaining relationships with home and sharing experiences.     

Integrated research on land-use changes in the face of urban transformations – An analytic framework for further studies

We state that land use is under constant pressure, no matter if land-use changes take place in growing or shrinking cities. Land-use changes witness multiple interdependencies between environmental, social and economic factors. In urban areas land is highly exposed to accelerating consumption which makes it a scarce and precious resource. Therefore we need transformative processes to deal with land use in a more sensible and responsible way. We define urban transformations as fundamental, multi-dimensional changes in urban land-use patterns, population developments, infrastructures, governance regimes as well as established values, norms and behaviours. A central focus is on land use and its changes to supply ecosystem services as key driver for quality of life. Most important for us is that transformative processes are highly dynamic and non-linear, thus affecting functions of urban land uses in different ways and with varying consequences. In this sense, governance research is a decisive component to implement our research in practice. With this viewpoint we want to contribute to a debate on land-use changes in alternating growing and shrinking cities to foster appropriate development responses for urban transformations towards sustainability.     

Gender Gaps in Social Capital: A Theoretical Interpretation of Evidence from Italy

This study uses the Italian data from the Multiscopo surveys of 1997 and 2011 to assess differences in life-cycle accumulation of social capital by sex and age. First, the study identifies some crucial aspects regarding the definition and measurement of social capital: individual versus collective dimension, different typologies of social capital, and the fact that the literature often deals with women in social capital but seldom with gender. Second, using a regression analysis with cross-sectional data, it shows that social capital accumulation along the life cycle is different for men and women, with men accumulating more social capital at all ages, with a different peak and overall profile. The study also shows that, over fifteen years, the gap in social capital by sex narrowed. Finally, it introduces a model of social capital structure compatible with the empirical evidence and with notions of gender as defined in feminist literature.     

Professional travellers and tourist practices

This study analyses to what extent conventional tourism is part of the experience of professional visitors. Following the literature on mobilities, this paper assumes that leisure and work increasingly intermingle in time and space. Empirical work based on a survey of conference attendants in Barcelona confirms this stance, and invites to reframe professional life ‘in mobility’ as performed as part of a wider package of everyday activities. Public transport and mobile communication are analysed as facilitators of such convergence, highlighting how professional travel is situated in flexible spaces and flows. These findings provide insights for urban (tourism) policy, insofar as they demonstrate that planning for specialised spaces is not sufficient to reduce visitor pressure on the main tourist ‘sights’.     

工程项目社会评价指标体系的研究现状

项目社会评价已成为项目评价中不可或缺的部分,由于社会评价涉及的因素较多,至今尚未形成较为统一的社会评价指标体系。文章在总结大量文献的基础上,提出社会评价应贯穿于项目全寿命周期并根据工程项目引起的社会问题建立社会评价指标体系。最后,用层次分析法对项目实例进行分析论证。     

煤电企业生命周期阶段界定的方法研究

煤电企业具有特定的生命周期轨迹,从企业生命周期角度来研究煤电企业具有较高的理论和现实意义。基于企业生命周期理论,选取了反映公司盈利能力、成长能力、营运能力、偿债能力和现金能力五方面的指标来建立了界定企业生命周期阶段的指标体系。选用2007年-2013年郑州煤电股份有限公司的季度财务数据,运用AHP法和熵权法分别计算企业在每个阶段和综合的财务指标权重,再运用判别分法以距离小为判别标准判断出郑州煤电股份有限公司属于生命周期阶段的成长期。     

Kolmogorov’s forward PIDE and forward transition rates in life insurance

We consider a doubly stochastic Markov chain, where the transition intensities are modelled as diffusion processes. Here we present a forward partial integro-differential equation (PIDE) for the transition probabilities. This is a generalisation of Kolmogorov’s forward differential equation. In this set-up, we define forward transition rates, generalising the concept of forward rates, e.g. the forward mortality rate. These models are applicable in e.g. life insurance mathematics, which is treated in the paper. The results presented follow from the general forward PIDE for stochastic processes, of which the Fokker–Planck differential equation and Kolmogorov’s forward differential equation are the two most known special cases. We end the paper by considering the semi-Markov case, which can also be considered a special case of a general forward partial integro-differential equation.     

An examination of the links between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its internal consequences

The purpose of this study is to examine the links between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its internal consequencesusing the hotel employees' CSR perception, Quality of Working Life (QWL), affective commitment, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and job performance. Although CSR has been widely studied from the perspective of employees, no previous study has related it to QWL in the field of hospitality research. Applying relevant theories, the study empirically substantiates the connection between the constructs and provides theoretical and practical implications. The results, drawn from data collected from hotel employees in upscale hotels in South Korea, show that hotel employees' CSR perception of the firm positively influences their QWL, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior, which, in turn, enhance their job performance.     

Integral and differential equations for the moments of multistate models in health insurance

The moments of the random future liabilities of health insurance policies are key quantities for studying distributional properties of the future liabilities. Assuming that the randomness of the future health status of individual policyholders can be described by a semi-Markovian multistate model, integral and differential equations are derived for moments of any order and for the moment generating function. Different representations are derived and discussed with a view to numerical solution methods.     

Nonconstant reputation effect in a dynamic tourism demand model for Spain

Following the ideas of the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) theory, we propose a dynamic econometric model for tourism demand where the reputation effect (the effect of the lagged demand on the current tourism demand) is not constant, but dependent on congestion. We test the model using panel data from Spanish regions during the period 2000–2013. Two estimations are performed depending on whether the tourists' origin is domestic or international. The results show that the reputation effect is not constant in both estimates, supporting the idea that tourism congestion influences tourist arrivals in Spain.