Rethinking social impacts of tourism research: A new research agenda

Understanding the social impacts of tourism on communities is extremely important for government at all levels so that action can be taken to reduce the likelihood of a community backlash against tourists and tourism development. Given that the residents of many tourism destinations are a fundamental part of the tourism ‘product’, resident attitudes and behaviour have a sizable impact on the success or otherwise of a destination. Research on the social impacts of tourism on communities is substantial and ongoing and while advances have been made in the area, the research has not addressed some of the deep seated issues faced by tourist destinations. This paper provides a critique of the social impact of tourism literature, highlighting the inadequacies in the research that has been conducted to date, which then leads to the development of a new conceptual framework. The paper traces the key developments in social impact research and argues that the predominance of quantitative methods potentially limits our ability to gain a more in-depth understanding of the impacts and how they influence both the host community and tourists. The paper finds that the quantitative focus from previous social impact research has led to a narrow understanding of the issues surrounding social impacts and proposes a new research agenda based on ‘layers’ of social impact understanding through the use of ethnography or phenomenology. The paper concludes with recommendations to progress social impact research beyond simply describing the issues towards explanations of why they occur by suggesting that social impact research examine, in greater depth, the values and intrinsic characteristics of the host residents.     

Application of appreciative inquiry in tourism research in rural communities

Appreciative inquiry is a participatory research method based on positive psychology. Founded upon grounded theory and the social constructivist paradigm, appreciative inquiry is a simple, effective, and epistemologically sound tool to understand the rural population’s knowledge, needs, and priorities without alienating them from research. Based on the study conducted to comprehend the interrelationships among conservation, livelihood, and tourism development in three rural communities located in the vicinity of Chitwan National Park, Nepal, this study argues that appreciative inquiry can be a useful tool for conducting tourism research in rural communities. This study employs five steps, including grounding, discovery, dream, design, and destiny.     

农民工社区就业的实证研究——兼与其他社区就业群体比较

本文以陕西省24个城市社区233名社区就业者的调研数据为例,从社区就业农民工人力资本、农民工社区就业特点和社区就业者类型与收入的相关关系进行了比较实证研究。得到如下结论：一是农民工社区就业者教育人力资本普遍偏低;经验人力资本偏低;迁移人力资本较高。二是农民工找工作主要靠熟人和亲戚等社会资本．但是非公共职业介绍机构和培训机构的作用也不容忽视;多数农民工有长期社区就业的打算;三是社区就业者类型与收入水平显著相关。     

中国汽车出口分析

汽车工业,又被称为“工业中的工业”,它是一国工业化的中期进程一个最为重要的产业。近年来中国的汽车企业逐渐开始走出口的道路,与中国的汽车产业发展程度相比,这种出口并不能说明中国已经是一个汽车生产的强国,反而是中国汽车产业真正开始起步的征兆,因为这种出口带动了汽车工业的自主研发的开始。本文通过对中国汽车出口现状和原因的一些分析,指出汽车工业发展中还需要注意的一些关键性问题。     

Tackling an accounting coursework assignment - action research on the student perspective

The study focused upon first year undergraduates' experiences and perceptions of a major coursework assignment in accounting. The context was a modular programme with several hundred students from many different courses taking a common first year, first semester introductory accounting module. In the role of a reflective practitioner, the author adopted an action research approach, and gathered various forms of evidence including in-depth interviews with four students at key points during and after completion of their courseworks. The main issues highlighted were: (1) the effect which the university, as a new environment, has on learning in the early weeks of a course, and the fractured nature of learning in a semesterized course; (2) the personal strategies which students adopt for scheduling time on coursework, and the way in which this may differ from the expectations of staff; (3) the variety of learning approaches represented within the student group. These issues are reflected upon and implications for both the author's practice and for other practitioners are considered.     

The debate between empirical and broader phenomenological approaches to research

Since the end of the nineteenth century, the discourse between positivism and phenomenology has dominated the development of social science research methods. The argument is reflected in current tourism research and some scholars doubt the validity of positivism. Here opposing views as expressed in two recent Chinese publications are examined. By analyzing the two views and their methodology, the characteristics and limitations of both positivism and phenomenology can be highlighted. Both positivism and phenomenological methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, and an integration of the two types of research methods is most commonly used. In some specific research methods positivistic and phenomenological methods can be combined to attain more scientific knowledge. The paper also examines ‘technical rationality’, a philosophy which has been criticized by many for excessively focusing on the tool itself and so ignoring the research object and the purpose of the study. Yet although technical rationality does derive from positivism the former cannot simply be equal to the latter. It is suggested that the improvement of the scientific quality of tourism research is still the primary need for the development of the tourism discipline at present. It is not possible for tourism research to become a discipline purely through inclusion in specialized courses or existing subject content. Tourism research must become more scientific before it becomes a discipline.     

打造涠洲岛国际高端休闲旅游岛的金融支持对策

本文参考和借鉴国内国外旅游岛建设过程的投融资经验,以北海涠洲岛开发建设为例,分析了金融支持的现状,诊断在投融资方面存在的问题,并运用比较经济学的相关理论,提出加大金融对涠洲岛高端休闲旅游岛开发建设的政策建议,对涠洲岛建设国际旅游岛具有重要的借鉴意义.     

Dividends,research and development expenditures,and the value relevance of book value for UK loss-making firms

We extend prior research on the value relevance of accounting information for loss-making firms by allowing the coefficient of book value to vary across three distinct set of loss-making firm observations in our valuation model. Our key findings are, first, that book value is a less important determinant of equity value for either high R&D-intensive firms or dividend-paying firms, relative to firms with low R&D-intensity and zero dividends. Prior literature suggests that book value is a strong indicator of firm value for loss-making firms. This reasoning stems from book value's role as: (i) a proxy for the value of the possibility of abandoning or adapting the firms' net assets; and/or (ii) a proxy for expected future normal earnings. Our work suggests that this prior literature does not fully capture the valuation role of book value for loss-making firms. Second, we also find that dividends are value relevant, but generally only when the valuation role of book value is contextualised by allowing its coefficient to vary across high R&D-intensive firms, and dividend-paying, loss-making firms.     

Distribution of occupation times for constant elasticity of variance diffusion and the pricing of α-quantile options

The main results of this paper are the derivation of the distribution functions of occupation times under the constant elasticity of variance process. The distribution functions can then be used to price α-quantile options. We also derive the fixed-floating symmetry relation for α-quantile options when the underlying asset price process follows a geometric Brownian motion.     

年金保险危险选择策略研究

本文对年金保险危险选择保单挂起时点从最优、战略和实际三方面提出了解决方法,进行了学术探讨。