The quest for legitimacy and the communication of strategic cross-sectoral partnership on Facebook: A big data study

Nowadays, many wicked problems such as environmental issues require organizations from multiple sectors to form cross-sectoral alliances. Cross-sectoral alliance networks can transfer resources and signal affiliations and value alignment between strategic partners. The communication of cross-sectoral alliances is a form of CSR communication that serves organizations’ strategic goals and objectives. Drawing on the literature on digital CSR communication and legitimacy theory, this article examines which legitimacy needs shape the formation of cross-sectoral ties on Facebook in addressing environmental and sustainable development issues in the United States. Combining data-mining, text-mining, social network analysis, and exponential graph modeling, this research investigates the structure of a network among 3071 organizations across multiple sectors. Findings show that organizations’ cross-sectoral tie formation is mainly driven by social legitimacy and alliance legitimacy needs.     

Threatened plant species in the river ports of Central Europe: a potential for nature conservation

Industrialized areas represent a special group of urbanized areas, but sufficient attention has not been given to them concerning plant species richness and its importance for biodiversity conservation. These sites are considered the main drivers of biological invasions and biotic homogenization on a global scale, but the question of how and to what degree they contribute to biodiversity has yet to be raised. Data for 62 river ports (16 German, 26 Czech, 7 Hungarian, 4 Slovak, and 9 Austrian) on two important Central European waterways (the Elbe-Vltava and Danube waterways) were gathered for 40 years. In total, 1 240 plant species were found. Of these, 371 were classified as threatened and protected, nearly one third of the total number of species found in all of the studied Elbe, Vltava, and Danube ports. Significant differences in the proportion of threatened species in ports and cities were not found. More threatened species were found in the Danube ports than in the other ports, but their numbers fluctuated depending on the size of the port and the region (country). The results showed that the ports must be regarded as special types of species-rich industrial areas; thus, they should not be considered to be only sources of spreading invasive alien species. When planning port development, uniformity and vegetation management that is too intensive should be avoided. Extensively managed open areas and habitat diversity should be maintained.

     

Compare Chinese with Americans: how trait comparisons shape public perception of Sino–US relationship and China policy issues

This study draws on social comparison theory and the spread activation literature to explore the effects of opinions about the personal traits of Chinese and Americans on the United States (US) public’s perceptions of the Sino–US relationship. The study also explores how perceptions of the Sino–US relationship predict the perceived importance of various Chinese policy issues. The analyses of the secondary survey data showed that comparisons of positive and negative traits had different effects on public opinion about the Sino–US relationship. The respondents who viewed China as a partner or as a competitor also thought that human rights, the freedom of Tibet, and economic issues were important. Those who viewed China as an enemy believed that the selling of arms to Taiwan was important. The implications of the findings for theory construction and national image campaigns are discussed.     

制度创新的"亚"形态与可能路径--对我国股份合作制改革的一个历史判断

从宏观的角度看,由于社会经济发展的实质是技术或基本生产函数的不断创新,制度促进经济发展或阻碍经济发展的实质,也就是制度能否使社会的创造力充分释放出来,从而不断推动技术及基本生产函数的创新。制度的价值在于它能为经济活动提供一种稳定的长期服务,凭借它,人们可以对经济活动产生长期的预期。因此,人们选择一种制度并使其在历史过程中延续下去,必然意味着人们不断地对其做长期的利益投入并对其抱以长期的收益预期。     

教养方式对不同性别学前儿童羞怯的影响：基于模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）

为探讨父母教养方式对不同性别学前儿童羞怯的组合作用路径,研究采用模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）,考察了532名学前儿童的性别和教养方式四个维度（说理、随和、命令、言语攻击）共5个条件变量影响儿童羞怯的条件组态。结果发现：1）单个父母教养方式不是影响学前儿童羞怯的必要条件,教养方式以组态的方式影响学前儿童羞怯;2）影响“儿童羞怯”的三条组合路径分别是“女孩*非说理”、“女孩*命令*言语攻击”、“非说理*命令”;影响“非儿童羞怯”的三条组合路径分别是“男孩*非言语攻击”、“说理*非说理*随和”。     

Parental Leave Policies and Second Births: A Comparison of Czechia and Slovakia

Population Research and Policy Review - The paper investigates the transition to second births in Czechia and Slovakia in the context of the development of parental leave policies since the...     

Life Satisfaction of Rural Migrant Workers in Urban China: The Roles of Community Service Participation and Identity Integration

Abstract

China is home to approximately 245 million rural-to-urban migrant workers. The influx of migrants into urban areas has posed various challenges for local social service systems. Recently, increasing number of community services have been developed to meet the growing service demands from the migrant population. However, whether increase in community service use results in improved wellbeing among migrant workers remains critically unexplored. As such, this study examines the role of community service use in migrant workers’ life satisfaction and the potential mediating effect of identity integration in Shenzhen, China. Bootstrapped models were adopted to examine relationship among variables. Drawing from a sample of 1,087 rural-to-urban migrant workers, we found that community service use is positively correlated with both identity integration and migrant workers’ life satisfaction. Moreover, identity integration served as a partial mediator between community service use and life satisfaction. The mediating effect of identity integration was found to increase with age. This study highlights that diverse services should be implemented to address divergent needs of migrants in different age groups. Community service can also serve as a vehicle to foster integration among migrant workers in host communities, especially for older age groups. Future studies may further investigate the relationships between community social capital, community social support, quality of community-based organization and frequency of service use so as to optimize the life satisfaction of migrant workers.     

The effect of paid maternity leave on low-income families' welfare use in the US

Despite the critical role that paid maternity leave can assume in the economic lives of low-income families, research to date has paid insufficient attention to whether paid maternity leave reduces welfare use for low-income families. Using the Current Population Survey (CPS) March Supplement 2007–2014 with the difference-in-difference (DiD) technique, this study finds a significant policy effect of paid maternity leave on reducing the probability of using Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), TANF benefit amounts and TANF participation length. This study confirms that paid maternity leave is likely to prevent low-income families from using welfare during job interruptions stemming from the birth of a child. Given that TANF is often associated with negative political and social connotations, paid maternity leave can be used as an important social policy to improve economic security as well as offer empowerment in overall social standing for low-income mothers. The discussion focuses on the implications of the findings in a broader context of American welfare states.     

理论与实践:中国文化产业十年总揽(上)

对十年来中国文产业理论与实践发展历程的全面梳理,是在我国文化产业发展进入一个崭新的历史发展阶段进行的。这一研究以2002年党的十六大召开,提出发展文化产业的基本任务,指明文化产业发展的基本方向为起点,把自2002年到2011年党的十七届六中全会提出建设社会主义文化强国十年历史进程中,文化产业概念研究、发展战略研究、文化体制改革研究、文化产业发展实务研究以及文化产业学术载体、档案和里程碑事件研究作为研究对象,系统梳理十年间文化产业的理论脉络、研究重点和研究方向。     

Marketing as an Investment in Shareholder Value

We present resource‐based and capability‐based arguments of marketing investment intensity to offer a strategic view of marketing as an investment in shareholder value. We find that marketing investment intensity has a U‐shaped quadratic effect on shareholder value creation (Tobin's q) that calls for marketing investment to be protected and increased, not surrendered. We show how marketing investments interact with investments in R&D, human capital and operations to reveal how strategic co‐investments can alter the shareholder value of marketing. Finally, we show how competitive intensity and failings in the firm's investment productivity (its ability to convert investment expenditure into sales) point to malaise in the firm's own strategic architecture as a fault for perceived poor returns from marketing investments. Our findings suggest that marketing investment should not be scapegoated when its contributions to shareholder value are not as expected. When invested in strategically and in combination with other investments, marketing can unlock exciting improvements in shareholder value.