Effects of Matching and Mismatching Messages on Purchase Avoidance Behavior following Major Disasters

Following major disasters, purchase avoidance behavior toward products that are caused by stigma often results. For example, after the Tohoku Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, consumers have avoided products from Fukushima. Attempts have been made to diminish this purchase avoidance behavior, but they have been found to be ineffective. The reasons for ineffectiveness of strategies within this context were empirically examined based on matching and mismatching effects of messages. In two studies (Study 1, N = 113; Study 2, N = 364), the effects of affective messages and cognitive messages were compared, and the effectiveness of affective messages was found to be consistently weaker than that of cognitive messages. Message producers often present affective messages with the expectation of observing the matching effect. However, findings suggest that these presentation strategies will fail, and that the mismatching effect should be used instead. The best method of message presentation to reduce purchase avoidance behavior in a disaster area is discussed.     

E-GOVERNANCE AS STRATEGY OF PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM: PECULIARITY OF JAPANESE IT POLICY AND ITS INSTITUTIONAL ORIGIN

As the cases of public sector reform and e-governance projects have shown, e-governance can play a role in public sector reform. This paper describes Japanese e-governance policy and its status, focusing on the issues affecting the government and the public. Japan has implemented a series of political and administrative reforms in order to improve accountability. NPM reforms utilize various strategies to manage public policies, and e-governance is a public policy that directly affects other policies and brings about change. Its characteristics as public policy are different from those of other policies, especially in relation to public accountability.     

The Turnover of Market Leaders in Growing and Declining Industries: Evidence from Japan

This article explores the turnover of market leaders in the manufacturing and information and communications industries in Japan. We propose indices for market mobility by focusing on the turnover of market leaders and examine how the likelihood of the turnover of market leaders differs across industries. We provide evidence that market leaders are more likely to be replaced by competitors in growing and declining industries, relative to industries where the growth is more stable. Moreover, the results reveal that the turnover of market leaders is more likely to occur in research and development-intensive industries. Furthermore, the interaction effects of industry growth and concentration indicate that the turnover of market leaders is more likely to occur in declining industries with high concentration.     

Rapid adaptation to near extinction in microbial experimental evolution

Theory indicates that responses to natural selection maximize immediate fitness benefits, leading to adaptations to current environmental conditions and those of the immediate past. Over a century of advances in theory, experiment, and observation have documented innumerable adaptations demonstrating the efficacy of natural selection to finely tune species to their respective environments. However, theory also suggests that natural selection is not a panacea, and that improvements in competitive ability do not necessarily increase long-term survival. Here we show that adaptation in experimental populations of microbes can dramatically reduce population sizes to near extinction levels in a stressful environment. The long-term potential for extinction differed from that identified in short-term ecological observations, but the eventual outcome is consistent with limitations on specific modes of adaptation. These results suggest that additional emphasis on the limitations of adaptation can provide insight on when and how improvements in competitive ability provide longer-term benefits.