“This is a holy place of Ama Jomo”: buen vivir,indigenous voices and ecotourism development in a protected area of Bhutan

Common definitions of ecotourism address the need to benefit the well-being of local people; in reality, ecotourism is often supported or dominated by external agents. Local ideological, social and cultural values may be overlooked, thereby disenfranchising local and indigenous stakeholders. This paper examines indigenous perceptions of ecotourism and well-being, and how they relate to ecotourism practices in three Brokpa communities of the first protected area in Bhutan to become a special tourism destination. A range of methods (e.g. semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping) was used and data analysis was couched in the context of buen vivir (living well), an indigenous concept of well-being. Findings indicate that: (1) perceptions of ecotourism vary between community members and contrast with the official park definition; (2) well-being is conceived in diverse ways but corresponds to key features of buen vivir; (3) indigenous worldviews are pervasive, and shape social values and spiritual beliefs in connection to nature; and (4) indigenous cosmologies and traditional values may be strengthened through their integration into modern policies and institutions. This research contributes more non-Western voices to the literature, a concept and mode of analysis for well-being that embraces an indigenous ontology, and empirical insights on indigenous communities in protected areas.     

Electricity supply preferences in Europe: Evidence from subjective well-being data

We use survey data for 139,517 individuals in 25 European countries, 2002–2011, to estimate the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and production shares of various electricity generation technologies. The estimated relationships are taken to represent preference relationships over attributes of electricity supply systems (costs, safety, environmental friendliness, etc.). Controlling for a variety of individual and macro-level factors, we find that individuals’ SWB varies systematically and significantly with differences in the electricity mix across countries and across time. Among other results, we find that a greater share of solar & wind power relative to nuclear power and electricity from coal and oil is associated with greater SWB at all levels of income and that the implied preference for solar & wind power over nuclear power has risen drastically after the Fukushima nuclear accident.     

个体主动性人格对学习能力影响的实证研究

探讨了员工个体的主动性人格特质对其学习能力的影响及其作用机制,以及员工的工作卷入和反馈寻求在这一关系中的中介作用。运用企业236个员工数据进行分析,得出以下结论:企业员工的主动性人格显著促进其学习能力;员工的主动性人格显著强化其工作卷入和反馈寻求;员工对内的工作卷入促进了其学习能力,且在主动性人格和学习能力的关系中起部分中介的作用;员工对外的反馈寻求促进其学习能力,且在主动性人格和学习能力的关系中起部分中介作用。研究结论为组织个人学习能力的提升提供了一个重要的前因变量,并对员工工作卷入与反馈寻求的中介作用机制进行了探讨,丰富了个人学习研究,并提出了相关的实践建议。     

Country Differences in Material Deprivation in Europe

This paper assesses to what extent differences in the characteristics of individuals (micro‐level perspective) and country‐specific factors (macro‐level perspective) can explain country differences with respect to material deprivation levels. Thus, our work aims to simultaneously consider the macro dimension and the predominantly individually‐oriented study field of material deprivation using multilevel techniques. We make use of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Our results show that country‐specific factors seem to be much more relevant than individual effects in explaining country differences in material deprivation. We estimate that the introduction of country‐specific factors reduces the proportion of total variance due to between‐country differences in deprivation by 72.7 percent, while individual‐level variables reduce this proportion by only 9.4 percent. We also show, through interaction variables, that the effect of sociodemographic characteristics can be shaped by institutional and structural factors, especially by the level of GDP.     

The transmission of partner mental health to individual life satisfaction: Estimates from a longitudinal household survey

This paper investigates the relationship between partner's mental health and individual life satisfaction, using panel data and calculating the monetary valuation of mental illness. Accounting for measurement error and endogeneity of income, partners' mental health has a significant association with individual well-being. The additional income needed to compensate someone living with a partner with a mental condition is substantial (ranges between USD 33,000 and USD 50,000). Further, individuals do not show adaptation to partners' mental illness. The results have implications for policy-makers wishing to value the effects of policies that aim to impact on mental health and levels of well-being.     

Validating a customer well-being index related to natural wildlife tourism

This study reports an attempt to validate a customer well-being (CWB) index related to natural wildlife tourism. It was hypothesized that the CWB index related to wildlife tourism has a positive influence on travel outcomes (length of stay, number of visits, and total expenses), mediated by perceived value and customer loyalty. These hypotheses were tested using four waves of surveys of customers (overnight visitors) intercepted at the park in a two-year period. The survey data provided support for the hypotheses, which, in turn, lend validation support to the CWB index. Managerial implications of the customer well-being index are also discussed.     

I am who I am: Sharing photos on social media by older consumers and its influence on subjective well-being

We are faced with an aging population whose longer lives need to be lived well. Extant marketing scholarship has largely neglected older consumers' behavior in relation to the social media realm and its influence on well-being. This two-stage qualitative study investigates subjective well-being, exploring whether and how sharing photos on social media increases the dimensions of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. The findings indicate that photo-sharing is a powerful behavior in augmenting older consumers' well-being as it enables individual self-reflection, self-representation and transforms the individual experience into a collective one. Contributions include, that photo-sharing acts as a bridge in creating, reinforcing but also breaking bonds among older consumers, also a tension exists between the desire for autonomy and the need for relationships with others, and finally that the digital self is a component of subjective well-being in older consumers.     

深度休闲对主观幸福感的影响研究——以苏南地区城市居民为例

深度休闲对优化苏南地区休闲产业建设,进一步提升居民休闲生活质量有重要影响。文章通过问卷调查的方式收集苏南地区城市居民深度休闲行为的数据,研究苏南地区城市居民深度休闲行为特征及深度休闲对主观幸福感的影响。结果发现:(1)苏南地区城市居民进行深度休闲活动的场所主要为户外;(2)闲暇时间不足是限制苏南地区城市居民进行深度休闲活动的主要因素;(3)苏南地区城市居民的深度休闲活动总体程度不高,愿意在深度休闲活动上投入大量时间和金钱的人更是少数;(4)苏南地区城市居民从事深度休闲活动产生的强烈认同感和坚持不懈的毅力对主观幸福感有着显著的积极影响。     

Employee well-being attribution and job change intentions: The moderating effect of task idiosyncratic deals

We developed and tested a research model in which employee well-being human resource (HR) attribution differentially influences the intention to change jobs across organizations (i.e., external job change intention) versus that within the same organization (i.e., internal job change intention). Furthermore, we posited that task idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) moderated the relationships between employee well-being HR attribution and external and internal job change intentions. Results indicated that employee well-being HR attribution was negatively related to external job change intention, but positively related to internal job change intention. Further, task I-deals significantly moderated the relationships between employee well-being HR attribution and external and internal job change intention. Specifically, employee well-being HR attribution played a less important role in reducing external job change intention when task I-deals were high rather than low. On the other hand, high task I-deals significantly strengthened the positive relationship between employee well-being HR attribution and internal job change intention. Our study extends the careers literature by differentiating the impact of employee well-being HR attribution on job change intentions within an organization compared with that across organizations and the important role of supervisors in enhancing or mitigating these effects.     

年轻高管与企业股价崩盘风险：来自“代理冲突观”的证据*

在企业纷纷实施高管年轻化战略的背景下，本文从股价崩盘风险的视角分析和检验了年轻高管风险偏好的经济后果及其作用机理。本文基于“个体认知观”和“代理冲突观”展开理论推演，采用中国沪深A股非金融上市公司的数据，检验发现，年轻高管会显著加剧企业未来的股价崩盘风险，且这种影响主要存在于民营企业，在国有企业并不显著。进一步针对具体作用机制的检验发现，年轻高管在投资决策中选择了更多能迅速提升个人收益的风险性投资项目，但在不能迅速提升个人收益的风险性投资项目上与年长高管没有显著差异。同时，年轻高管对股价崩盘风险的加剧效应仅仅存在于高管在上市公司领取薪酬的样本企业，且更高的独立董事比例能显著抑制年轻高管的股价崩盘风险加剧效应。这表明，年轻高管个体认知层面的风险偏好被其追求个人私利最大化的代理冲突所扭曲，进而为年轻高管风险偏好的“代理冲突观”提供了实证证据。