Alienation and its correlates: A meta-analysis

We provide a meta-analysis of alienation, outlining the extent to which it is predicted by individual differences (need for achievement), role stressors (role conflict), leader dimensions (initiating structure), and aspects of the work context (formalization). We also examine its relationship with outcomes such as employee attitudes (job satisfaction), performance (task performance), withdrawal (absenteeism), and side effects (drinking). We examined these relationships based on data from 45 primary studies and 227 statistically independent relationships. Our meta-analysis provides cumulative evidence for effect sizes across multiple settings and respondents, clarifies ambiguous aspects of the construct, and presents more information on the extent to which alienation can be seen as the opposite of job involvement.     

Consumer Awareness, Understanding and Usage of Unit Pricing

The debate continues over whether prescribed quantities or unit pricing offers the best method to enable consumers to make value-for-money comparisons. In theory, the 'informed' consumer should benefit from being given unit-price information to identify optimum purchases; in practice, however, it would appear that many consumers do not use the data. Although unit pricing can reduce the level of confusion caused by large product ranges and large numbers of unique size–price combinations, results of a survey of over 1000 people showed that: 31% of the sample did not understand how unit pricing was meant to help them compare products; 35% could not be bothered to look at unit prices and 28% stated that unit pricing was too difficult to use. Those least likely to look at unit prices are women, the least educated and consumers aged 18–34. The research investigated why consumers do not use unit-price information and found: some consumers do not possess the cognitive ability to process the information and feel unit pricing is too complicated to use; some products are not comparable, which makes unit prices misleading; many shops do not provide unit-price information; unit-price information was felt unnecessary when evaluating products with few or no alternative sizes or brands; unit-price comparisons take too much time; consumers use simpler strategies for getting value for money, e.g. volume discount heuristic, own brands, special offers, x% free, reward points, etc. The paper explores policy and retailer implications for unit pricing and examines recommendations for government.     

On the Measurements of Board Composition: Poor Consistency and a Serious Mismatch of Theory and Operationalization

Over two dozen operationalizations of board composition can be identified from the empirical literature. A structural equations confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL 8.03) suggests that these operationalizations do not constitute a single construct of board independence. Instead, analyses strongly indicate three separate constructs. Common operationalizations of board composition, then, are neither tenable surrogates for one another nor are they interchangeable. Implications for empirical aggregation of studies, theory/measurement convergence, and the current corporate governance public policy debate are discussed.     

Revisiting the model of creative destruction: St. Jacobs,Ontario, a decade later

Ten years ago, the model of creative destruction was developed to predict the fate of communities that base their development on the commodification of rural heritage (Mitchell, C.J.A., 1998. Entrepreneurialism, commodification and creative destruction: a model of post-modern community development. Journal of Rural Studies 14, 273–286). Its application to the village of St. Jacobs, Canada, demonstrated that entrepreneurial investment had fostered the creation of a setting for aestheticized consumption. In this paper we demonstrate that creative destruction has continued to unfold in the village over the course of the past decade. The evolutionary path taken is assessed in light of current literature on rural space. It is concluded that to fully understand the transformative process, one must integrate the demands of myriad sub-cultures, whose social relations, ideologies and actions will contribute to the development of a contested landscape of consumption. This finding necessitates that modifications be made to the model and its various stages. The most significant is recognition that the “heritage-scape” is an interim state of landscape change; one that displaces the productivist landscape of the industrial period, and precedes the creation of the “neo-productivist” leisure-scape of post-industrialism. Whether or not such a “final” state is achieved is dictated by the power struggle that inevitably arises amongst sub-cultures engaged in the transformation of rural space.     

儒、释、道的荣辱观比较研究

儒、释、道三家均有其各自的荣辱观及其指导下的社会实践活动。认真吸取三家荣辱观的精华，对提高全民族思想文化素质，弘扬民族精神和时代精神，促进全社会形成良好道德风尚，促进物质文明和精神文明协调发展，具有重大的理论与现实意义。     

Cultural filtering in the hiring process and its relationship to welfare reform

In this paper, we perform an initial, exploratory analysis to determine whether firms use “cultural filters” as indirect and direct proxies for human capital when screening potential applicants for employment opportunities. Using data collected from three counties in Washington State, we find that these filters do, indeed, influence hiring decisions. As a result, it may be advantageous for policy makers to consider restructuring welfare policies to account for the effects of these cultural filters.     

基于AHP的高校学生素质考核指标设计

高校学生素质考核是学生管理制度中的重要内容,是构建优良校风、学风的重要手段,是保证大学文化发挥思想政治教育功能的重要方式.针对目前该项工作仍存在的一些问题:指标体系缺乏逻辑性、指标描述内容不清楚和权重的分配缺乏科学性等,提出运用层次分析法完善学生素质考核指标体系,以思想道德及政治素质指标为例,演示如何采用层次分析法对数据进行搜集、筛选和分析以及确定合理指标权重的过程,总结归纳出在具体操作过程中应该注意的问题.试图对高校学生素质考核的研究领域提供知识增量,进一步为高校相关管理部门制定考核指标体系提供借鉴.     

医疗行为的正当化研究

正是基于对人的自我决定权的尊重,"患者的意思是最高的法",患者的同意成为阻却医疗行为违法性的根本事由.有效的患者同意,应当是由患者本人(或者其监护人)以表达于外部的方式,在医疗行为实施之前作出;同意蕴涵了"接受"或者"拒绝",指向的是医疗行为及其结果;同意只需出于患者的自愿即可,并非必定理性.欠缺患者同意的医疗行为包括强制医疗、紧急医疗和专断医疗,前两者的正当化根据分别是公共利益和推定的患者同意.至于专断医疗,少数国家规定了专门罪名,有的国家作为伤害罪处理,而大多数国家则认为不成立犯罪,我国现阶段不宜将专断医疗入罪化.     

英语中性别歧视现象及女权运动对它的影响

英语中性别歧视现象 (表现在词缀、词汇、称呼、俗语、谚语、隐喻等方面 )反映了英语国家中性别歧视问题。这些现象是由历史、社会、心理等多种原因造成的。 2 0世纪 60年代的妇女解放运动对性别歧视语言进行了诸多改革 ,使英语发生了许多变化。笔者进行了一个旨在研究这次运动对以英语为外语的中国学习者的影响的调查 ,认为语言改革只是一种表面的变革 ,只有现实生活中女性地位提高了 ,语言中的性别歧视现象才会彻底消失。     

大学英语教材"交互性"阅读活动比较研究

"交互性"阅读是一种新的阅读模式.它主要是由自然互动、内在动机、策略运用、冒险尝试等基本特征构成.近几年出版的国内大学英语教材均采用了这种"交互"式的阅读模式,但通过分析其中较有影响的 3套教材后发现阅读活动"交互性"程度差异很大,或是有些要素缺失,或是名不符实,因而有必要进行修正.