Voluntary association membership of outdoor recreationists: An exploratory study

Abstract

Research on the political activity of outdoor recreationists has focused primarily on their associational affiliations and concern for the environment. This article reviews literature on theories of collective behavior, recreation motivations, and environmental concern. The study considers outdoor recreation as a social movement and investigates relationships between incentives for voluntary membership in environmental and outdoor recreation associations, motivations for participation in outdoor recreation activities, and environmental concern. Members of associations were found to be significantly different than nonmembers on several variables including value for outdoor recreation, incentives for association membership, intellectual motivations for outdoor recreation, environmental concern, education level, and age. Results suggest that association efforts to obtain instrumental benefits, or public goods that accrue to all of society, are a primary incentive for outdoor recreationists to join voluntary associations. A common thread of intellectual pursuit distinguished members from nonmembers, suggesting that intellectual benefits may help define the relationship between outdoor recreation and associational affiliation behaviors.     

Measuring Motivations for Media Exposure: A Thesis

The present article discusses the problem of separating the motivation conceptempirically from other relevant concepts in research on mass media audiences.For about half a century, audience researchers use questionnaire items with adistinct format as measurements of motivations for media exposure. It isargued that these motivation items grammatically reflect the nature of themotivation concept as a theoretically intermediate variable between behaviourand its social or mental background, thus constituting the most plausibleindicators of the concept. However, it is also argued that these questionnaireitems are double-barrelled and that any measurement of motivations based onthe items can largely be considered an ambiguous mixture of behaviour and itssocial or mental origin. A study is presented that provides empirical support for this position.     

Modeling the Impacts of Corporate Commitment on Climate Change

The aim of this paper is to propose an integrative framework for understanding the determinants of business strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of these determinants on performance. The proposed structural equation model is based on a survey of 319 Canadian manufacturing firms. The study calls into question the traditionally positive relationship between a firm's environmental commitment and its economic motivations. However, the results also show a win–win relationship between the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and financial performance. This study contributes to the understanding of the motivations underlying the efforts manufacturers make to tackle climate change and their economic benefits. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Tourism in the system of industrial society

Recreation and tourism are integral parts of the whole industrial social system. Viewed thus, tourism, so successful in the past two decades, seems clearly doomed to radical change. Many signs in the universe of work-habitate-leisure-travel indicate that the present system does not satisfy the human needs of traveler, host, and ultimately the social system. One inevitable result of forecast change, is a new, humane understanding of leisure and tourism; one should begin forging it before the opportunity for choice and reason disappears.     

SMEs and CSR: An Approach to CSR in their Own Words

The academic literature reveals the need to undertake more in-depth field studies in order to discover the organisational culture, the difficulties and the perceptions surrounding CSR in SMEs. This study presents the results of analysis of four case studies on Catalan companies that stand out for their social and environmental practices. The conclusions of this paper are the result of dialogue with the main actors – four medium-sized companies – focusing on their actions, understandings and resistance with regard to CSR. The methodological perspective used was Grounded Theory, with the aim of the study being to contribute towards formalising CSR in SMEs, in their daily practices, by analysing some primary data. The results obtained show how difficult it is for SMEs to understand CSR, beyond the explanation of the specific practices carried out by the companies. They highlight the role played by the values of the founding director in the implementation of CSR programmes; they reveal that SMEs still have a long way to go towards learning how to inform both internal and external stakeholders of their best practices, and; finally, they show the interesting links that SMEs establish between responsible practices, improved competitiveness and economic results. Finally, the text points out the implications that the results of this analysis may have on creating ways of promoting CSR in SMEs. We believe that, in light of the opinions expressed by the companies, public organisations should try to concentrate on creating a favourable framework for responsible competitiveness, as a way to deal with CSR when addressing SMEs.David Murillo is a Researcher at the Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES), ESADE Business School, Universitat Ramon Llull and Academic Assistant at the same institution. He is the current coordinator of the SMEs and CSR research field at IPES. He holds a degree in Business Administration, a degree in Human Studies and a diploma in Sociology. He is currently pursuing his PhD in SME CSR.Josep M. Lozano is currently a Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull and Director of the school’s Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES). Co-founder of ética, Economía y Dirección (Spanish branch of the European Business Ethics Network), member of the international Editorial Board of ‘Ethical Perspectives’ and member of the Business Ethics Inter-faculty group of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS). He has been a highly commended runner-up in the European division of the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Faculty Pioneer Award. Author of Ethics and Organizations. Understanding Business Ethics as a Learning Process. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000.     

我国企业面向全球集成创新资源动机与方式分析

本文指出了我国企业面向全球集成创新资源的必要性和必然性,从资源禀赋错位、资源缺口补偿、资源图谱优化、资源边界内化等角度揭示了我国企业面向全球集成创新资源的动机,比较分析了我国企业面向全球集成创新资源的资本运作型集成方式、共建实体型集成方式以及虚拟联盟型集成方式。     

Intra and inter-country comparative effects of symbolic motivations on luxury purchase intentions in emerging markets

Emerging markets, and especially lower-tier cities within these markets, are seen as the future growth engines for luxury brands. However, extant literature on the drivers of luxury consumption has predominantly focused on Tier-1 cities. Grounded in the theory of network effects, this study offers first such intra and inter-country comparison of the symbolic motivations (i.e. snob, bandwagon and Veblen motivations) underpinning luxury purchases between and within Tier-1 and lower-tier cities in two prominent emerging markets, China and India. The findings offer first account of similarities and differences in consumer motivations that drive luxury consumption within and between these markets. While most luxury brands have ubiquitous strategies for emerging markets, the results will assist managers in developing distinctive brand strategies catering to the intra and inter-country differences.     

英语活动对高职生英语学习动机影响的研究

以649名（活动前338名，活动后311名）高职护理专业学生为被试，另加49名普通专科外语系学生为对比组，运用定量研究的方法，研究英语活动与学生英语学习动机之问的关系，并用SPSS（社会科学统计软件包）对统计数据进行分析。独立样本T检验结果表明，三个月的系列英语活动对激发受试者的挑战精神和战胜困难后的成就感方面及部分外在动机方面有统计学显著性差异；同时从整体数据分析，通过英语活动的开展，学生的学习动机，无论是内在还是外在动机都有所增强。     

企业买壳上市研究

目前,我国企业并购活动的一个重要特征就是企业兼并与收购呈现证券化的趋势。“买壳上市”是上市企业并购活动中的一朵奇葩。所谓“买壳上市”,是指非上市企业通过并购控股上市企业的股份来取得上市地位,然后用反向收购方式注入自己的相关业务和资产,从而达到间接上市的目的。本文就对“买壳上市”的动因、目标“壳”企业的选择、“买壳上市”的实现模式及“买壳上市”中存在的问题等进行探讨。