Exploring the Chinese Immigrants' Preference of Tourist Activities During Their Homeland Visit and Use of Past Memories

The present study attempts to explore Chinese immigrants' preference of tourist activities during their homeland visits and examine how their past memories related to their homeland may influence their preference of tourist activities. Data were collected by using a semi-structured interview and a survey of 500 Chinese immigrants. The findings revealed two types of tourist activities, namely “sightseeing” and “relive the past”. It was found that respondents' length of living in Macao and their homeland, travel patterns, and use of their past memories related to their homeland in their present life could significantly influence their preference of tourist activities during their homeland visits. Moreover, respondents, who planned to revisit their homeland in the near future, had participated in these two types of tourist activities during their last homeland visit significantly more than those respondents who had not. The results suggested that the Chinese immigrants' preference of tourist activities during their homeland visit reflected their needs of connecting to their cultural identity, reliving their past life, and learning about the changes of their homeland and personal life over the past years. The findings offer some marketing implications for destination managers in relation to tourist experience management.     

Identification of two decision-making paths underpinning the continued use of branded apps

This study investigates two decision-making paths that underpin the continued use of branded apps. One path originates from past use of a category of apps and leads to continued use of a branded app from that category via recognition. The second path also starts with past use, but leads to continued use through the evaluation of the app's benefits. Two empirical studies test and subsequently validate the resulting conceptual model, confirming that both paths underpin continued use; however, the strength of the theoretical links varies, and the two paths warrant separate investigation. These outcomes support the generalizability of the proposed model, highlighting its potential as a tool to advance the understanding of consumer decision-making leading to the continued use of branded apps. The findings of this study also yield practical relevance, especially for the delineation of strategies to enhance the chances of market survival of branded apps.     

A comparison of different approaches to segment information search behaviour of spring break travellers in the USA: experience,knowledge, involvement and specialisation concept

The purpose of this research is to compare salient approaches for identifying the patterns of college students' information search behaviours while preparing for their spring break trips. Comparing four different prominent constructs (i.e. past experience, prior knowledge, involvement and a concept of specialisation combining those three variables), the results of the study indicate that involvement and the specialisation concept have more distinctive results than the others in terms of measurement of travellers' perceived usefulness of information sources and the importance of information content. In addition, the different groups assigned different priorities for usage of main information sources. As a result, involvement and the specialisation concept appear to provide more distinctive clarification for identifying the information search behaviours of spring break travellers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Past absence as a predictor of present absence: the case of a large Danish municipality

This article investigates whether past absence behaviour is a predictor of present absence duration in a large Danish municipality with 17,499 individuals observed from 1996 to 2004. Past absence behaviour is measured in both absence days and absence spells. The article also investigates a number of confounders such as gender, age, seniority, wage, contracted number of work hours and season. The results of the empirical study show that there is a significant positive relationship between employees' absence duration and past absence spells and past absence days, respectively. The study thus confirms that past days and past spells have an equal potential of predicting present absent. Past absence behaviour can thus be used as an early warning for managers. The study also confirms that personal characteristics such as age and seniority also influence absence duration. Moreover, job characteristics such as wage and contracted number of work hours also influence absence duration. Finally, the season of the year seems to influence absence duration.     

Pride in my past: Influencing sustainable choices through behavioral recall

Emotional appraisal research has demonstrated that recalling a past behavior and its associated emotions can influence future behavior. However, how such recalled emotions shape sustainable consumer choice has not been examined. This study examines the role of recalled pride and guilt in shaping sustainable purchase intentions and the mediating role of anticipated pride and guilt. A conceptual model is proposed for motivating sustainable purchase intentions through the emotions associated with the behavioral recall. The model is applied in two experiments with online consumers examining purchase intentions of low carbon cars. Recalling feelings of pride associated with a past sustainability‐related behavior increases sustainable purchase intention, as compared with a neutral recall. This effect occurs through the mediation of both anticipated pride at the prospect of a sustainable behavior choice and anticipated guilt if the future choice is not sustainable. Similar hypotheses relating to recalled guilt at past unsustainable behavior were not supported. The study contributes to research on sustainable consumption, revealing an emotional route by which past behavior can influence future behavior. It also adds to emotional appraisal research by showing the role of specific self‐conscious emotions in forming this route, as prior research has focused more broadly on emotional valence.     

Government Contracts and Contractor Behavior

The U.S. government embraces the concepts of privatization and market competition, but the realm of contracting shows that it has not always been able to put its principles into practice. Although the contracting system is supposed to be open and competitive, in recent years the government has often awarded contracts with little or no competitive bidding, has chosen to award mostly cost-plus type contracts that force the government to assume more of the risk, and lacked efficiency in monitoring and overseeing private contractors. While the number and value of contracts have increased, the workforce to oversee these contracts has been reduced, preventing the government from adequately enforcing compliance with the contractors, and the government has not made use of past performance evaluations in its contracting system. Private contractors that do business with the U.S. government are for the most part well-established firms with ample resources and inside contacts; many contracts are still being awarded on preferential treatment and to the larger and well-established contractors.     

Exploring the motivation of Chinese immigrants for homeland tourism

This study explored the travel motives of the Chinese immigrants who visit their homeland for vacation. A combination of qualitative interview and quantitative survey was undertaken to collect data. Five-hundred valid Chinese immigrants in Macao were surveyed. Three core travel motivation factors are revealed: attractiveness of the tourist resources, connection to the past, and socialising with family and friends. The travel motives reflect the emotional needs of the Chinese immigrants who visit their homeland for vacation and suggest that homeland tourism is likely to provide the Chinese immigrants with a chance to recollect their past memories and experiences with their homeland and lead them to some nostalgic feelings and thoughts about their personal life, which contribute to a memorable tourist experience. Moreover, the travel patterns of the Chinese immigrants were significantly correlated with their travel motives, suggesting that homeland tourists have their unique travel needs and behaviour and thus should be treated as a separate tourist segment. For future research, it is worthwhile to undertake a further investigation in the travel motives and behaviour of immigrants with different cultural and ethnical backgrounds in order to better understand homeland tourists.     

百年来中国共产党领导科技攻关的组织模式演化及其制度逻辑

中国工业发展和科技崛起的过程,是中国共产党引领科技创新和工业关键技术不断突破的奋斗历程。百年来,中国共产党领导科技攻关的组织体制经历了从政府主导向市场主导再向政府与市场有机结合的转变,具体组织模式的演变可划分为五个阶段：（1）1921—1949年,基于战备需要的“革命-生产-科技”三位一体组织模式,该组织模式在特定的历史条件下实现了科研力量高度集中和人民群众广泛参与的有机统一;（2）1949—1978年,基于计划经济和国防导向的中央集中组织模式,该组织模式充分发挥了社会主义制度“集中力量办大事”的制度优势,初步奠定了中国国防工业技术创新的组织基础;（3）1978—2002年,体制改革过程中面向经济建设的科技攻关项目组织模式,该模式引导了中国科技创新的方向,同时逐步培养了企业创新能力;（4）2002—2012年,面向自主创新战略的市场主导型组织模式,该模式进一步提升了企业在国家创新体系中的主体地位,政府在市场逻辑下更有效发挥作用;（5）2012年以来进入全面创新时代的新型举国体制组织模式,此模式下,科技管理体制着力促进有为政府与有效市场相结合,进一步提升国家创新体系整体效能。当前,面临美国技术封锁,中国要在尽可能短的时间内不断突破关键核心技术,需在加强党的领导前提下,进一步推动科技管理体制改革,创新科技攻关项目组织方式,提升全社会整体创新效能。     

Influence Left Behind

In the past 51 years, while the Canton Fair has been developing from small-scale and weak to big-scale and strong, Guangzhou＇s economy has been growing along and becoming more and more flourishing with it as well. The development of Canton Fair .just reflects the growing path of Guangzhou＇s economy.     

How Do Costume Listing Companies Perform?

Three Features could be read from the performance of China's costume listing companies in 2007. Brand advantage Different from the display of the textile listing companies in the past several Years,Orand Costume companies have hegun to take up a larger proportion,rather than the Processing export ones,as long as more new companies'listing.