The conference on security and cooperation in Europe: Its impact on tourism

The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe adopted principles which have both direct and indirect impact on travel and tourism. The data for the paper include documentary material, a survey sent to the national travel and tourism bureaus of the participating states, and personal interviews. It is evident that most of the problems encountered in implementing the final act are political, not technical. A separate section is devoted to the discussion of the impact on travel for professional reasons. The overall result of this study points to the fact that progress has been slow and tangible results have been limited.     

Applying the lens of intersectionality to UK equal opportunities and diversity policies

Incorporating the social differentiations of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, and age into UK equal opportunities and diversity legislation involved creating a new single equality body for Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales). This paper assesses the efficacy of an Equality and Diversity Mainstreaming approach established in Northern Ireland (NI) for this new agency. It also stresses the potential value of “intersectionality” to further policy planning and development. It is argued that the combination of the NI model underpinned by the concept of intersectionality could offer a way forward for the new agency where, importantly, the issue of gender remains one of the most important axes of domination. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relational Demography in Supervisor‐Subordinate Dyads: An Examination of Discrimination and Exclusionary Treatment

This study examines the link between supervisor‐subordinate dissimilarity and associated perceptions of discrimination and exclusionary treatment. Using a sample of 1,059 employees from a large Southeastern insurance company, we examined age, race, and gender dissimilarity as predictors of perceived discrimination, supervisory support, and leader‐member exchange. In addition, we examined supervisor liking/attraction and status of affiliation with supervisor as intervening variables. Race dissimilarity related positively to perceptions of discrimination and exclusionary treatment, mediated by both supervisor liking and status. Effects for age and gender dissimilarity were nonsignificant. We discuss the importance of these findings for understanding and managing dyadic relationships at work. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosures

We investigate the effectiveness of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a not‐for‐profit organization that facilitates environmental disclosures of firms with institutional investors, thereby serving as a corporate governance mechanism for shareholders to influence the firm's environmental disclosures. We examine firm characteristics associated with firms' decisions to disclose carbon‐related information via the CDP for a sample of 319 Canadian firms over a four‐year period. In particular, we examine how firms' decisions to disclose via CDP are associated with shareholder activism, litigation risk, and the opportunity for low‐cost positive publicity once requested by the firms' “signatory” investors. Our results also show that management's decision to release climate change data is associated with domestic, but not foreign, signatory investors. We also find that disclosing firms tend to be those from lower polluting industries with less exposure to litigation risk. This suggests that this new form of coordinated shareholder activism may not be successful at altering the behavior of firms that are heavier polluters.     

An Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Stress Scale‐10 (PSS10) with Business and Accounting Students

Using a sample of 557 undergraduate business students from three U.S. comprehensive universities, this study examined: (a) the factor structure of the Perceived Stress Scale‐10 (PSS10; Cohen and Williamson, 1988); (b) the invariance of its factor structure; (c) the scale's reliability; and (d) its convergent and divergent validity. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a structure with two primary factors, General Distress and Ability‐to‐Cope, loading on a single second‐order factor, Perceived Stress. Furthermore, this model was confirmed for designated subpopulations including the 264 accounting majors who participated in the study. Notably absent in prior research, this study found two items, numbers 2 and 9, to load significantly on both the General Distress and Ability‐to‐Cope factors with men and the full sample, respectively. Item–total correlations, coefficient alphas, and Spearman‐Brown reliability coefficients supported the reliability of the items loading on the full scale as well as on each of the two primary factors. Combined, these findings provide compelling evidence in support of the PSS10 as a stress assessment measure for business students in general, and accounting students in particular. In fact, given its practical expediency in terms of administration and scoring, the PSS10 appears to be a tool that could be used by university administrators and potentially by human resource personnel at accounting and business organizations to assess student/employee perceived stress levels before the onset of burnout tendencies, thus facilitating more timely and cost‐effective intervention strategies.     

CEO Attributes,Board Composition,and Acquirer Value Creation: A Canadian Study

We examined CEO attributes, board composition, and ownership structure for their relationship to the share performance of the acquiring company around the acquisition announcement. Based on 273 acquisitions by Canadian firms from 1998 through 2002, we have shown that the levels of CEO and director ownership as well as the level of board independence were positively associated with the short‐term financial performance of the acquirer. Board size was negatively related to value creation. Finally, cash‐based deals and cross‐border transactions were also positively related to increases in shareholder wealth for the acquirer. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

分布式压缩的图像关联重建方法

针对通信网络有限带宽传输大数据量图像信息的瓶颈问题,提出了基于系数整合法的分布式 压缩传输的图像重建新方法,首先通过对原图像进行分块小波变换获得子图像小波系数向量 ,从而大大降低压缩编码系统的数据传输量,再对压缩编解码的子图像小波系数进行关联处 理,形成原图像的整体小波变换系数向量,最后采用小波反变换实现原图像的重构。仿真分 析结果表明,本方法计算量小,数据存储低,并具有高质量的图像重建效果。     

Conformity and diversity of accounting and financial reporting practices in Portuguese local government

Portuguese governmental accounting has evolved from essentially a cash‐based budgetary accounting system to an accrual‐based financial and cost accounting system. Evidence from financial reports shows a great level of diversity amongst municipalities' voluntary compliance with the new accounting rules. Using a sample of Portuguese municipalities in the year 2003 we calculate and analyse the levels of compliance with the practices required by law and document the diversity in compliance across municipalities. The differences across municipalities are explained by some fundamental factors: size, financial conditions, urban characteristics, and diffusion across neighbouring municipalities. We show an unexpected effect of size. Larger municipalities comply less with accounting standards. Organizational complexity, conservative practices, and aversion to change may explain this result. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impact of Leadership on Absorptive Capacity: New insights from the UAE

This paper investigates the impact of transformational and transactional leadership on the absorptive capacity of firms within an emerging market setting. Unlike some findings from the Western world, the results indicate that both transformational and transactional leadership styles positively influence the learning processes of absorptive capacity. More specifically, the results indicate that transactional leadership style positively influences the exploratory and transformative learning processes, while the transformational leadership style positively affects the exploitative learning process. Given the unique context under investigation and the fluid institutional arrangements associated with it, the results reflect the need for leadership guidance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.