The language of Japanese tourism

This paper discusses the way in which language is used in contemporary Japanese travel brochures. What concepts do travel agencies use to attract tourists? What themes continually recur in the advertising literature? Many of these concepts and themes are the same as those important to tourism in the Western world, but there are certain cultural themes or ways of treating tourist attractions which are peculiar to Japanese tourism. A second aim is to consider the “keywords” of Japanese tourism: those stressed in the advertising for domestic tourism and those stressed for international tourism. The relation between these two possibly antagonistic sets of keywords is discussed in terms of the ideological principles around which Japanese society is organized, and it is hypothesized that keywords for international tourism portend great and long-term changes in the fabric of Japanese society.     

How individualism–collectivism influences consumer responses to the sharing economy: Consociality and promotional type

With the explosion of online exchange of products, the sharing economy is experiencing ever-increasing growth. Despite the increasing popularity of lateral exchange market platforms as part of the sharing economy, research has not yet adequately investigated cultural effects on how consumers’ intentions to purchase products on these platforms. Using two studies, this paper examines whether consumers high in individualism versus consumers high in collectivism respond differently to platforms with low versus high consociality and how individualistic and collectivistic consumers respond differently to two types of promotions that relate to self-maximization. Findings in Study 1 indicated that consumers high in individualism (collectivism) have higher patronage intentions toward a platform low (high) in consociality. Findings in Study 2 suggested that in the presence of a promotion, collectivistic consumers respond comparably to promotional types across platforms, whereas individualistic consumers respond more positively to collective (individual) promotions when consociality is low (high). Further, felt commitment to others as a result of the consociality/promotional type relationship explains these effects. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Microfoundations

This paper argues that the microfoundations programme can be understood as an implementation of an underlying methodological principle—methodological individualism—and that it therefore shares a fundamental ambiguity with that principle, viz, whether the macro must be derived from and therefore reducible to, or rather consistent with, micro-level behaviours. The pluralist conclusion of the paper is not that research guided by the principle of microfoundations is necessarily wrong, but that the exclusion of approaches not guided by that principle is indeed necessarily wrong. The argument is made via an examination of the advantages claimed for dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models, the relationship between parts and wholes in social science, and the concepts of reduction, substrate neutrality, the intentional stance and hypostatisation.     

Antecedents and consequences of idiosyncratic deals: A frame of resource exchange

This study examines the antecedents and consequences of both timing and content of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) for attracting and retaining valuable employees. A resource exchange frame theorizes the influence pattern of personal individualism value, social skill, and perceived insider status on i-deals timing. Individualism and social skill are expected to relate to both ex ante and ex post i-deals; perceived insider status is anticipated to relate only to ex post i-deals. The frame also suggests that i-deals’ content and personal development relate primarily to relational and balanced psychological contracts; the other ex post i-deals, flexibility and workload reduction relate to transactional psychological contracts. The frame was tested with data collected from 289 Chinese employees in the telecommunication industry.     

Neoliberalism and work-related risks: individual or collective responsibilization?

Based on a representative sample of the Dutch population (N?=?2467), we test four hypotheses about how utilitarian individualism influences the responsibilization of work-related risks (i.e. the risk of dropping out of work because of unemployment, disability, or sickness). The risk society hypothesis understands utilitarian individualism as a laissez-faire ideological orientation and assumes it to lead to individual responsibilization. The blame culture hypothesis conceives utilitarian individualists as consumer citizens and predicts the reverse – that those concerned expect to be protected by the government. The resentment hypothesis assumes that particularly utilitarian individualists with a vulnerable labor-market position individualize responsibility, because they distrust those who share their fate more than others do. The narcissism hypothesis reverses this logic, because it assumes that utilitarian individualists’ narcissistic self-centeredness entices them to make others responsible for their own risks. The two hypotheses predicting an individualization of work-related risk due to utilitarian individualism are both confirmed, whereas the two hypotheses predicting it to result in their collectivization are both rejected.     

个体文化特征对心理契约构建的影响

在总结心理契约交易型导向和关系型导向的基础上,基于个体主义与集体主义表征文化的核心价值观,本文发现个体主义者理解组织信息趋向于交易型契约,集体主义者趋向于关系型契约;个体主义价值观将激励个体缔结交易型心理契约,而集体主义价值观将影响个体建立关系型心理契约。因此,个体文化特征会对心理契约的构建产生影响。     

试析西方经济学“经济人”假设的发展及其局限性——基于对马克思相关观点的理解

"经济人"假设关注个人的利益目标及实现目标的能力,而马克思在刻画个人时还特别强调了社会关系对个人行为选择的约束。笔者立足于对马克思相关观点的理解,探讨秉承斯密个人主义思想的西方经济学流派对"经济人"假设的继承和发展,试图揭示这一个人观念进一步发展遇到的困惑。遵循方法论个人主义原则,西方学者要从追逐自身利益的"经济人"出发,解释约束其实现自身利益的因素形成和变迁的原因,从而不得不面对引入另一种个人行为模式的尴尬。     

Compensation as a signal of organizational culture: the effects of advertising individual or collective incentives

Beyond their impact on current employees, compensation systems are thought to convey important messages about an organization's values and practices to potential hires, but explicit empirical support for this belief is scant. In two experiments, US participants evaluated recruiting advertisements containing simple statements about bonuses, with performance basis manipulated between-subjects in the first experiment and within-subjects in the second. Advertising bonuses based on individual performance caused an organization to be perceived as likely to have a more individualist culture, whereas bonuses based on team or organizational performance led to perceptions of a more collectivist culture. When participants in the second study were asked to choose between hypothetical jobs at organizations with different advertised compensation systems, the relation between individual differences and job preference was contingent on their organizational culture perceptions. In contrast to previous research, no modal preference for individual over collective rewards was observed.     

关于奥地利学派制度变迁理论方法论的初步分析

奥地利学派的制度变迁理论其方法论主要有三大"基石"构成,即,主观主义、方法论个人主义、演进理性主义。它对于其学派的制度变迁理论的渲化具有特殊意义。     

整体主义还是个体主义？——经济学中两大认知观的历史演化与现实反思

基于观察经济现象的行为主体,经济学中存在交互兴衰的两种认知观：一是抽象同质的原子主义个体分析,它强调研究经济现象最适当的方法应当在个人的水平上进行;二是具体异质的集体主义整体分析,它关注个体行为发生作用的社会影响。这两种分析思维各有片面性：一者,纯粹用个体主义术语来解释社会现象也是不可能的;二者,完全抛开个体行为来分析社会现象是非常困难的。一般地,越是把经济学研究对象集中于新古典传统领域（即与物质有关的生产、消费等）的学者,就越固守个人主义的研究路径;越是关注更为广泛的生活领域以及从事交叉学科研究的学者,则越是倾向于采取整体主义的研究路径。由于自然主义和个人主义是西方社会的基本思维,因而现代经济学主要继承了个人主义的分析思路,甚至极端化了原子论的个体主义研究方法,从而造成了经济学和其他社会科学之间的分裂。