How being rooted in the past can shape the future: The role of social identity continuity in the wish for a strong leader

Why do people support strong leaders? We examined the link between social identity continuity – the sense that a nation’s past, present, and future are interconnected – and the wish for a strong national leader. Drawing on a multi-country data set (Study 1: N = 6112) and a sample from Australia (Study 2: N = 621), Studies 1 and 2 showed that identity continuity was related to increased desire for a strong leader. Studies 3a (UK sample; N = 293) and 3b (US sample; N = 294) further showed that desired (not perceived) identity continuity was related to wish for a strong leader, suggesting that the key ingredient is the desire for continuity regardless of the perceived current levels of continuity. These findings suggest that people may want to preserve their national identity as a link to the past to face present and future challenges, even if it means forgoing democratic leadership.     

应用马氏过程预测市场行为

通过实例阐述马氏分析用以解决预测市场行为的基本思路，其结果中应用于企业经营管理决策。     

消费者视角下中小企业社群动态定制仿真建模及其管理策略研究

移动互联时代下，基于在线社群的聚合力和社群经济效益的社群定制模式，如何有效解决大部分中小定制企业普遍面临的定制顾客少、销售转换率低及总体利润低等问题，是定制企业界目前亟待解决的重要问题之一。针对此，首先，本文对社群定制模式和一般在线定制模式进行定性分析，阐明两种定制模式的实现路径和特征，对其差异性进行归纳。然后，从消费者行为角度出发，结合定制模式的实现路径和差异性，分别建立多Agent仿真模型，分析两种定制模式下定制销售转化率、购买人数、消费者满意度和企业利润的差异，从而验证社群定制模式的有效性。最后，进一步研究不同企业和市场特征对社群定制与一般在线定制模式定制效果的影响，并探讨社群特征对社群定制效果的影响，为企业有效的定制选择及社群定制实现提供相应的管理策略。     

Information and communications technology use in rural child welfare work

This study explores the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) use on rural child welfare practice using a technology-in-practice framework to derive the social structures that are instantiated by rural child welfare workers (CWWs) and to examine their agency as actors. ICT use was tracked, and interviews were conducted with rural CWWs who work with children and families to gain an understanding of and describe their day-to-day ICT use at the practice level. Findings demonstrate that CWWs enact social structures along four frames: bureaucratic structure, family centricity, ICT context and information–documentation culture. In terms of agency, CWWs not only are constrained by but also exert some influence on the social structures they enact through facilities (material resources), norms and interpretive schemes. These findings have implications for how ICT can be used to facilitate the CWW–client relationship and the need in rural areas for increased infrastructure to support CWWs.     

Commentary is free: Issue management and gaining capital with thought leadership

Expert commentaries are an avenue in which individuals and the organisations they represent position themselves on issues that are relevant to stakeholders. This paper considers the motivations for writing them, assessing this through two conceptual lenses: issue management and cultural, symbolic and economic capital. By writing an expert commentary an individual manages the way an issue is perceived and in doing so gains either immediate economic capital in the form of payment or symbolic or cultural capital which may in the future be converted into economic capital through increased career opportunities or promotion. We analyse expert commentaries in the Singapore news media and surveys their authors to investigate what prompted them to contribute their articles. We bring together (organisational) thinking on issue management and (individual) thinking on self-promotion as reflected in expert commentaries and suggest lessons for issue management through expert commentary.