Developing a Broadly Applicable Measure of Risk Perception

Decades of research identify risk perception as a largely intuitive and affective construct, in contrast to the more deliberative assessments of probability and consequences that form the foundation of risk assessment. However, a review of the literature reveals that many of the risk perception measures employed in survey research with human subjects are either generic in nature, not capturing any particular affective, probabilistic, or consequential dimension of risk; or focused solely on judgments of probability. The goal of this research was to assess a multidimensional measure of risk perception across multiple hazards to identify a measure that will be broadly useful for assessing perceived risk moving forward. Our results support the idea of risk perception being multidimensional, but largely a function of individual affective reactions to the hazard. We also find that our measure of risk perception holds across multiple types of hazards, ranging from those that are behavioral in nature (e.g., health and safety behaviors), to those that are technological (e.g., pollution), or natural (e.g., extreme weather). We suggest that a general, unidimensional measure of risk may accurately capture one's perception of the severity of the consequences, and the discrete emotions that are felt in response to those potential consequences. However, such a measure is not likely to capture the perceived probability of experiencing the outcomes, nor will it be as useful at understanding one's motivation to take mitigation action.     

„Ausschließlich zahlenorientiert, ausschließlich an Erträgen orientiert“. Vermarktlichung als Organisationsprinzip und Anerkennungsproblem

The paper discusses the marketization of organizations and focuses on its consequences for organization members. It broadens the current debate of the issue by adding the dimension of social recognition. Indeed, the pursuit of recognition mobilises highly qualified knowledge workers’ comprehensive commitment in specific ways. Based on a case study the paper shows how the interviewed managers pursue recognition in ambiguous ways, and that this pursuit leads them into a dual trap of both admiration and appreciation. Only as a result of the pursuit of recognition failing on both sides, a person’s pride in their craft is replaced by a hollow ethos of duty. In this perspective the “marketization of subjectivity” is not merely a mirror image of structural constraints, nor an outcome of semantics that conceptualizes the market sphere as an “anethic institution” (Weber).     

Becoming the Family Archivist

The author describes some of the ways in which conventional amateur family histories fail to portray the emotional realities of family life. Recent trends in biography and autobiography are explored briefly, and the possibility of a family history informed by systemic as well as psychoanalytic insights is considered. The author's own work, A Family in Time, attempts such a history. The author outlines his sources of information, both documentary and oral, and the special challenges posed by their interpretation. The decisions governing the ordering and selection of data for publication are explored, the author's aim being to present the facts in such a way that a systemic conception of family process over time will be implicit in the material. Implications for the author, for the family itself, and for therapists working with intergenerational process are briefly considered.     

GM Foods and the Misperception of Risk Perception

Public opposition to genetically modified (GM) food and crops is widely interpreted as the result of the public's misperception of the risks. With scientific assessment pointing to no unique risks from GM crops and foods, a strategy of accurate risk communication from trusted sources has been advocated. This is based on the assumption that the benefits of GM crops and foods are self-evident. Informed by the interpretation of some qualitative interviews with lay people, we use data from the Eurobarometer survey on biotechnology to explore the hypothesis that it is not so much the perception of risks as the absence of benefits that is the basis of the widespread rejection of GM foods and crops by the European public. Some respondents perceive both risks and benefits, and may be trading off these attributes along the lines of a rational choice model. However, for others, one attribute-benefit-appears to dominate their judgments: the lexicographic heuristic. For these respondents, their perception of risk is of limited importance in the formation of attitudes toward GM food and crops. The implication is that the absence of perceived benefits from GM foods and crops calls into question the relevance of risk communication strategies for bringing about change in public opinion.     

Wird die Relevanz von Ertragsteuern für die Unternehmensrechnung nach rechtlichen oder ökonomischen Kriterien beurteilt?

Textbooks in the areas of Management Accounting, Finance and Valuation treat taxes very differently. Finance and Valuation increasingly consider tax effects. Management Accounting considers taxes only if they meet certain legal “cost” criteria. These criteria follow tax law rules, but not economic rules and primarily consider tax effects of the local business tax only. This view is also reflected in recent cost accounting regulations. We present evidence from a survey of managers and chambers of commerce, according to which practitioners’ views of whether the local business tax is a cost are heterogeneous. The majority of managers do not consider the local business tax as a cost and do not pass it on to customers. The chambers of commerce however still consider the local business tax as a cost.