Admission Preferences for Minority Students,Athletes, and Legacies at Elite Universities*

Objective. This study examines how preferences for different types of applicants exercised by admission offices at elite universities influence the number and composition of admitted students. Methods. Logistic regression analysis is used to link information on the admission decision for 124,374 applications to applicants' SAT scores, race, athletic ability, and legacy status, among other variables. Results. Elite universities give added weight in admission decisions to applicants who have SAT scores above 1500, are African American, or are recruited athletes. A smaller, but still important, preference is shown to Hispanic students and to children of alumni. The athlete admission “advantage” has been growing, while the underrepresented minority advantage has declined. Conclusions. Elite colleges and universities extend preferences to many types of students, yet affirmative action—the only preference given to underrepresented minority applicants—is the one surrounded by the most controversy.     

The Management of Information and Managers in Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations

A key challenge facing multinational corporations (MNCs) is how to encourage the development of firm specific advantages throughout the network of subsidiaries while maintaining global coherence. As a result, a critical task for top managers in the MNC is to structure the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries. Thus, headquarters' control of subsidiary behaviour and performance becomes a central integrating function in the MNC. We examine first the relationship between the nationality of the MNC headquarters and its information management, namely the key performance metrics utilized by the parent to evaluate subsidiary performance. Second, we investigate the relationship between the MNC nationality and its management of managers, specifically, the transfer of parent company nationals and corporate acculturation. These questions are investigated in a study of MNC subsidiaries located in Australia, Ireland and Singapore. Our data provide strong evidence that MNCs of all nationalities place the greatest emphasis on financial metrics compared to other performance metrics. Moreover, there are differences in the degree of emphasis on performance metrics across MNC nationality. We found that Japanese and German MNCs place significantly less emphasis on financial measures than US and UK MNCs. Our hypotheses relating to the management of managers were also supported by the data. In comparison with all other MNC nationalities, Japanese MNCs place greater emphasis on the transfer of Japanese managers to overseas subsidiaries and less emphasis on corporate acculturation. While some researchers have argued that management control has become more isomorphic as a result of globalization, our results show that companies from different nationalities diverge in their practices.     

An Empirical Investigation in Sustaining High‐Quality Performance

Many organizations that were once quality leaders have had challenges sustaining high‐quality performance. Although research has examined frameworks and concepts that lead to high‐quality performance, few studies examine how to sustain high‐quality performance. Sustaining performance may require additional capabilities from what it takes to achieve it. Drawing on quality management literature, organizational resilience literature, and the theory of dynamic capabilities in the strategy literature, this study empirically investigates the effects of four capabilities that help sustain high‐quality performance. The analysis shows that capabilities in improvement, innovation, sensing weak signals, and responsiveness all help sustain high‐quality performance. This suggests that what it takes to achieve high‐quality performance is different, in part, from what it takes to sustain it. The data comes from a survey of 147 manufacturing business units. The analysis shows that the relative benefits of these capabilities may depend on the level of competitive intensity and environmental uncertainty. The findings provide empirical support for a theoretical model and practical guidance for sustaining quality performance.     

“信息主导”背景下农民工的生存状态和身份认同

中国在市场经济改革这个过程中所经历的除了生产关系和产权关系的变化外,还有一场伴随着全球一体化而来的信息革命。这意味着我国所经历的现代化轨迹不同于欧美国家,从而农民工在城市打工所体会的现代生活也有自身的独特之处。本文就此提出以信息主导(information-led)为研究视角,探讨新一代农民工在全球信息化的背景下,其日常生活、社会关系,以及个人身份建构(self-identification)所经历的变革过程。首先,本文通过反思以劳资对立为研究视角的农民工研究,指出以该理论框架为指导的农民工研究的理论预设及其视角局限。其后,本文会讨论信息及通信技术(in-formation and communication technologies—ICTs)如何作为农民工研究的另一个切入点,从日常生活的角度展现新一代农民工在面对流动和通讯之间的必然性时所面对的疲惫、彷徨和被动处境。最后,本文会以珠三角地区展开的田野调査,来说明信息及通信技术在新一代农民工的日常生活里的社会意义,并探讨新一代农民工的生存状态如何对工人身份的认同构成阻力。     

文本诠释意义饱沃度与诠释典范

“思想单位”是有意义的思维情境,包含情境构作、情境处理与情境融合三个层面。借由“思想单位”研究方法,检视《论语·学而》第一章,指出该章涉及思想单位的问题要素包括有什么、会怎样、是什么三个型态的问题,且隐含着要怎样或应怎样的思考,但缺少了“所以然”的情境处理。通过考察何晏《论语集解》、皇侃《论语集解义疏》、邢昺《论语注疏》、朱熹《朱子集注》及简朝亮《论语集注补证述疏》等,比较各家对《论语·学而》第一章诠释中多层次“所以然”的情境处理及不同的思想单位,根据明晰性、关联性、一致性、解释性、预测性、实用性、合宜性、价值性等判断标准,对比各家诠释意义的饱沃度,进而说明经典诠释典范之特性。     

Effects of emotional visuals and company–cause fit on memory of CSR information

This study explores the cognitive effects of emotional visuals and company–cause fit in CSR communication. We conducted a 2 (valence of visuals: positive vs. negative)?×?2 (company–cause fit: high vs. low) within-subjects experiment to examine the effects of valence and company–cause fit on participants’ memory of CSR information, measured by recognition sensitivity and cued recall of company information in CSR messages addressing three different CSR issues. Results showed that negative emotional visuals were more effective than positive emotional visuals. Company–cause fit also played a significant role, but its effect depended on the level of cognitive effects aimed for. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.     

Statistical Estimation of the Casual Effect of Social Economy on Subjective Well-Being

It is well known that measuring the noneconomic outcomes produced by social economy organizations is fairly difficult and complex. Usually, social economy organizations feature participatory and democratic decision-making processes that help create social capital and relational goods, and they are interested in social integration; accordingly, they tend to create an organizational culture that encourages their workers to contribute to local communities. Therefore, the hypothesis that the increased activities of social economy organizations have a causal effect on the subjective well-being of the people living near those organizations is highly plausible. In this paper, we estimate the causal effect and attempt to test the hypothesis statistically by using a dataset called the “Seoul Survey,” which provides observations on the subjective well-being of 45,496 citizens living in Seoul and the size of social economy organizations. Controlling for variables at the district level and the appropriate socioeconomic characteristics of each individual in the dataset, we find that the size of social organizations is highly significant.     

The morning after Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission report: decolonisation through hybridity,ambivalence and alliance

Abstract

In Canada, 2015 will be remembered for the publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report which related to all Canadians the impacts of the Indian residential school system. The Commission invokes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and uses the term reconciliation as a national strategy for moving forward. This paper employs an autoethnographic methodology and proposes that reconciliation might benefit by finding ways of confronting the Other within; I describe my reflections on a trip to the 2015 conference Learning at Intercultural Intersections at Thompson Rivers University. My social and cultural experiences as a Korean Canadian academic and administrator are challenged in order to consciously shift my own colonising mindset. Reconciliation in Canada will require significant personal, professional, institutional and sociocultural inquiry. What does it mean to discover the Other within? How do we walk with Indigenous peoples? How do educators come to be called ally by Indigenous peoples?     

Examining the Structural Relationships Among Gambling Motivation,Passion, and Consequences of Internet Sports Betting

The rise in popularity of Internet gambling has led to new gambling controversies among researchers and policymakers alike. Opponents frequently point to the negative impacts of problem gambling, while advocates tend to view this form of gambling as relatively harmless and convenient entertainment for the vast majority of participants. Interestingly, in making their points, both sides cite empirical arguments about passion for the gambling act—with opponents arguing that Internet gambling enables unhealthy obsessions, and advocates pointing to the apparent intensive interest of large numbers of Internet players. As it turns out, both sides may have a point. In this paper, we examine whether types of passion were related to types of motivation and consequences. The data were collected through a sample from an online gambling website in South Korea. We rely upon Rousseau et al.’s (J Gambl Stud 18(1):45–66, 2002) seminal work on positive and negative aspects of passion, and in the process we develop a framework for understanding positive and negative consequences of this form of gambling. The results reveal that intrinsic gambling motivations (e.g., gambling for excitement) is related to harmonious passion, which in turn results in positive consequences. Meanwhile, extrinsic gambling motivations (e.g., money) is related to obsessive passion, which in turn results in negative consequences.