Revisiting the expatriate failure concept: A qualitative study of Scandinavian expatriates in Hong Kong

This article advances the understanding of expatriate failure, which remains a contested social phenomenon in international work life as well as scholarly research. The study challenges the definition of expatriate failure and its inherent biases, i.e., the epistemological primacy of the firm level and the failure/success binary. We argue that this qualitative study of 51 Scandinavian expatriates in Hong Kong can contribute to advancing theory on the expatriate failure concept by asking individual expatriates what constitutes failure to them. By applying social constructionist and social anthropological ideas to the expatriate failure concept debate, we develop the internationality thesis which demonstrates a discrepancy between the expatriates’ perceptions of successful international assignments and the actual nature of their lived lives; many expatriates desire to enrich their lives through experiencing an international/intercultural and adventurous lifestyle, but, in fact, living lives with limited intercultural exposure and interaction. We conclude by proposing a reconceptualisation of expatriate failure in terms of offering both a new definition and approach to researching expatriate failure in which time/duration, context, and geographical location need to be taken into account. We believe the new approach can overcome some of the empirical unsoundness of mainstream definitions.     

从美国和日本的汇率干预政策看我国的汇制改革

本文结合美国和日本1985年以后汇率干预的历史，分析为何两国不通过国内制度来解决根本的经济问题，而却偏好使用汇率政策？这种汇率干预政策形成的经济和政治因素是什么？能否实现预期的政策目标？本文在对美国和日本汇率干预政策的分析基础上探讨我国的汇制改革问题。     

Focus Groups: Contributing to a Gender-Aware Methodology

A focus group is an open group interview from which research hypotheses can be derived. It enables economic research to step down from its narrow theoretical assumptions and to embed research questions in a life context. It also can contribute to strong objectivity and when done in women's groups and/or on gender issues, focus groups can contribute to a feminist methodology. Experience from a focus group by the author held in Africa has indicated how diverse and enriching economic notions can become, when discussed in a group, before the research has started.     

Correct and incorrect use of child restraints: Results from an urban survey in New Zealand

This study describes the incorrect use of child restraints among car drivers with young children and examines factors that may influence their misuse. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in supermarket car parks with car drivers travelling with children under the age of 8 years. The main measure was errors in child restraint use. Short interviews were conducted with 1113 drivers with a close inspection of the child restraints used in the vehicles. Only 4% of children were unrestrained but 64% of drivers made at least one error in restraint use. Most respondents thought using a restraint was easy, but 65% of these drivers made at least one error. Child restraints are used, but many are incorrectly fitted and/or have the child incorrectly placed in them. Correct use is a moderately complex task. Restraint systems need to be designed to minimize the opportunity for error and maximize safety.     

Are two interviewers better than one?

How many interviewers per job applicant are necessary for a company to achieve the highest hit rate? Are two better than one? Condorcet's Jury Theorem and the “wisdom of the crowd” suggest that more is better. Under quite general conditions this study shows, surprisingly, that two interviewers are on average not superior to the best interviewer. Adding further interviewers will also not increase the expected collective hit rate when interviewers are homogeneous (i.e., their hits are nested), only doing so when interviewers are heterogeneous (i.e., their hits are not nested). The current study shows how these results depend on the number of interviewers, their expertise, and the chance of free riding, and specify the conditions when “less is more”. This analysis suggests that the best policy is to invest resources into improving the quality of the best interviewer rather than distribute these to improve the quality of many interviewers.     

Advancing the evidence base for public policies impacting on dietary behaviour,physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Europe: The Policy Evaluation Network promoting a multidisciplinary approach

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of global mortality. As the social and economic costs of NCDs have escalated, action is needed to tackle important causes of many NCD’s: low physical activity levels and unhealthy dietary behaviours. As these behaviours are driven by upstream factors, successful policy interventions are required that encourage healthy dietary behaviours, improve physical activity levels and reduce sedentary behaviours of entire populations. However, to date, no systematic research on the implementation and evaluation of policy interventions related to these health behaviours has been conducted across Europe. Consequently, no information on the merit, gaps, worth or utility of cross-European policy interventions is available, and no guidance or recommendations on how to enhance this knowledge across European countries exists. As part of the Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” (JPI HDHL), 28 research institutes from seven European countries and New Zealand have combined their expertise to form the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN). PEN’s aim is to advance tools to identify, evaluate, implement and benchmark policies designed to directly or indirectly target dietary behaviours, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour in Europe, as well as to understand how these policies increase or decrease health inequalities. Using well-defined evaluation principles and methods, PEN will examine the content, implementation and impact of policies addressing dietary behaviour, physical activity levels and sedentary behaviour across Europe. It will realise the first steps in a bespoke health policy monitoring and surveillance system for Europe, and refine our knowledge of appropriate research designs and methods for the quantification of policy impact. It will contribute to our understanding of how to achieve successful transnational policy implementation and monitoring of these policies in different cultural, demographic or socioeconomic settings. PEN will consider equity and diversity aspects to ensure that policy actions are inclusive and culturally sensitive. Finally, based on three policy cases, PEN will illustrate how best to evaluate the implementation and impact of such policies in order to yield healthy diets and activity patterns that result in healthier lives for all European citizens.     

Medicaid managed care: effects on children's Medicaid coverage and utilization

We use data from the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) to measure the effects of the growth of Medicaid managed care on children. We examine both the probability that individual children were Medicaid-covered and their utilization of care. We find that managed care penetration has significant effects on the composition of the Medicaid caseload: Young children are less likely to be covered, while poor school-age children are more likely to be covered. When we examine coverage by race, we find that black children are less likely to be covered where Medicaid managed care organizations (MMCOs) are more prevalent. These lower Medicaid enrollment rates are linked to increases in the numbers of young children who go without any doctor visits in a year. These results suggest that it is important to examine the potential effects of changes in Medicaid on selection into the Medicaid program, rather than focusing exclusively on the effects of managed care on those who are enrolled. In addition, among those enrolled in Medicaid, higher managed care penetration is associated with an increase in the number of black children with chronic conditions who go without doctor visits, but with decreases in the number of Hispanic children and poor teens who go without care.     

诉说与倾听——以《鲁豫有约》为例浅析电视访谈类节目的时代化

电视访谈类节目是这几年比较活跃节目样态。凤凰卫视在2002年推出了由陈鲁豫主持的《鲁豫有约》这档节目,以2005年为界,这档节目开始融入了更多新鲜的元素。品味着怀旧,感受着猎奇,我们一起走进鲁豫和她带给我们的或美丽或忧伤的天下故事。在品读这些故事的同时,我们可以更为深刻的感受到在全新的语境下,语言的魅力。     

Attitudes to the development and implementation of social and environmental accounting in Thailand

Motivated and shaped by a concern to realise the potentiality of accounting communication in relation to social and environmental issues in Thailand, this paper evaluates perceptions of current accounting as well as attitudes to social and environmental accounting among Thai accounting professionals. Making use of empirical data generated by questionnaire study and interviews, this paper aims to shed more light on the development and implementation of social and environmental accounting in Thailand. It argues that any change of accounting in future is likely to involve a change in the nature of the Thai accounting profession itself. The paper suggests ways in which the future development of social and environmental accounting practice might be given further impetus in the Thai context.     

高校双语教师胜任力模型的构建及应用指导

为了提高双语教学的质量,采用行为事件访谈法和问卷调查法对高校双语教师胜任力进行研究,得出四个模块、13项胜任力因素的模型结构：职业道德模块包括职业认同、责任心、奉献精神;专业知识和技能模块包括专业课程知识、相关背景知识、科研能力、驾驭课堂的能力;英语水平模块包括英语听说读写能力、专业英语水平、英语沟通能力;人格特质模块包括幽默感、感染力、亲和力。