NGO Strategies in an Authoritarian Context,and Their Implications for Citizenship: The Case of the People’s Republic of China

This study argues that different cities in China have different resource environments available for NGOs. Organizations react to these resource environments by constructing appropriate resource strategies, which in turn shape the characteristics and structures of the NGOs of that city. It further examines how these characteristics and structures influence the construction and performance of citizenship in an authoritarian environment. Specifically, some types of NGOs encourage Chinese citizens to be passive, while others offer a model for people to actively engage with social issues. This is aptly demonstrated in an analysis of NGOs operating across four cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, and Nanjing—which reveals three different types of resource environments and behavioral models for NGOs. We subsequently discuss the implications of each model for citizen engagement.     

Professors,Ideology and Housework

This paper presents, for the first time, multivariate analyses of Canadian national data and tests the relationship between class-based egalitarianism and housework for married and cohabiting male and female university professors in 2000. Consistent with evidence in the general population, gender accounts for more variation in housework than a host of other predictors (i.e., class- and gender-based ideology, institutional contexts and resources, available time, presence of children, age, minority racial status, and religiosity). Nevertheless, these forces play important roles in increasing or decreasing domestic labor contributions of both male and female academics. Among these, professors who possess class-based egalitarian views do more housework, and egalitarianism increases domestic labor contributions of males and decreases that of females.     

A Taxometric Analysis of Problem Gambling Data from a South African National Urban Sample

We investigate the question whether problem gambling (PG) in a recent South African sample, as measured by the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), is dimensional or categorical. We use two taxometric procedures, Mean Above Minus Below A Cut (MAMBAC) and Maxim Covariance (MAXCOV), to investigate the taxonic structure of PG as constructed by the PGSI. Data are from the 2010 South African National Urban Prevalence Study of Gambling Behavior. A representative sample of the urban adult population in South Africa (N = 3,000). Responses are to the 9 item PGSI. MAMBAC provided positive but modest evidence that PG as measured by the PGSI was taxonic. MAXCOV pointed more strongly to the same conclusion. These analyses also provide evidence that a PGSI cutoff score of 10 rather than the standard 8 may be called for. PG as constructed by the PGSI may best be thought of as categorical, but further studies with more theory based measurements are needed to determine whether this holds in a wider range of samples and for other screens. A higher cutoff score may be called for on the PGSI when it is used for research purposes to avoid false positives.     

Effect of Sociocultural Context and Parenting Style on Scholastic Achievement among Iranian Adolescents

School grades, family demographics and responses to the parental authority questionnaire were assessed in 240 eighth‐grade students in the southern, central and northern parts of Tehran, Iran's capital. The result showed that poorer families with traditional values had more authoritarian attitudes toward parenting than richer families with more modern values. In contrast to the studies conducted in East Asian societies, the current study found that authoritative parenting was the style associated with the highest academic outcome. Tests of mediation and moderation effects showed that the relation between parenting style and academic outcome was independent of sociocultural context.     

Disaster Management from a POM Perspective: Mapping a New Domain

We have reviewed disaster management research papers published in major operations management, management science, operations research, supply chain management and transportation/logistics journals. In reviewing these studies, our objective is to assess and present the macro level “architectural blue print” of disaster management research with the hope that it will attract new researchers and motivate established researchers to contribute to this important field. The secondary objective is to bring this disaster research to the attention of disaster administrators so that disasters are managed more efficiently and more effectively. We have mapped the disaster management research on the following five attributes of a disaster: (1) Disaster Management Function (decision‐making process, prevention and mitigation, evacuation, humanitarian logistics, casualty management, and recovery and restoration), (2) Time of Disaster (before, during and after), (3) Type of Disaster (accidents, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, landslides, terrorism and wildfires etc.), (4) Data Type (Field and Archival data, Real data and Hypothetical data), and (5) Data Analysis Technique (bidding models, decision analysis, expert systems, fuzzy system analysis, game theory, heuristics, mathematical programming, network flow models, queueing theory, simulation and statistical analysis). We have done cross tabulations of data among these five parameters to gain greater insights into disaster research. Recommendations for future research are provided.     

Psychic distance, psychic distance paradox and behavioral economics: Modeling MNC entry behavior in foreign markets

Assuming that MNCs face a much more complex environment that local enterprizes, the paper begins by discussing what economist Beckerman called psychic distance. After a historical discussion of this concept, I also discuss what O’Gardy and Lane called psychic distance paradox. Then, I argue that these two concepts have a great deal of relevance beyond their original intent of international trade-they are also relevant to FDI and all other formas of international production and exchange. Next, I argue, as I have done in several previous papers, that behavioral economics has a great deal of relevance to FDI and international productive activity; I also argue that behavioral economics can be utilized to describe the concepts of psychic distance and psychic distance paradox. Then, I develop a behavioral economics-based model that can explain the concepts of psychic distance and psychic distance paradox, and their relevance to the modes of entry of MNCs in international markets. In doing so, I argue that FDI and MNC behavior in general need not be explained outside of economics, since, in contrast to neo-classical economics, behavioral economics is capable of capturing the complexities of global markets.     

Testing Normality Using Transformed Data

In this article, we first present a characterization of the normal distribution and then we introduce an exact goodness of fit test for normal distribution. The power of the proposed test under various alternatives is compared with the existing tests, by simulation.     

ML and Bayes estimation in a two-phase tandem queue with a second optional service and random feedback

ABSTRACT

In this article, we consider a two-phase tandem queueing model with a second optional service and random feedback. The first phase of service is essential for all customers and after the completion of the first phase of service, any customer receives the second phase of service with probability α, feedback to the tail of the first queue with probability β if the service is not successful and leaves the system with probability 1 ? α ? β. In this model, our main purpose is to estimate the parameters of the model, traffic intensity, and mean system size, in the steady state, via maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Furthermore, we find asymptotic confidence intervals for mean system size. Finally, by a simulation study, we compute the confidence levels and mean length for asymptotic confidence intervals of mean system size with a nominal level 0.95.