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The purpose of this paper is to introduce the notion of blockchain as an institutional technology, defend the idea of National Innovation Systems as institutional systems, and then make use of the theory of institutional competition to characterise challenges posed by innovation public policy by blockchain technology.

The approach is to consider the nature of blockchain technology as an institutional technology, and to consider the nature of National Innovation Systems as institutional systems. The author then applies a theory of institutional competition developed elsewhere to appraise the interaction of the two.

The author expects for there to emerge sustained competition for National Innovation Systems from innovation systems implemented using blockchains. There will be pressure exerted by the latter upon the former to become more integrated, secure, usable and to greater support profit expectations for entrepreneurs.

The theory of institutional competition upon which this work is based makes use of cutting-edge behavioural and institutional economics. It has hitherto only been applied at a general level and has not been applied to a specific set of institutions such as National Innovation Systems.

RETIRING prime ministers are customarily offered an earldom. Because this often involves a change of name and historical oblivion, some of the greatest among them, men like Pitt and Gladstone and Churchill, have declined the honour. They understood that it is not names which give confidence in things, but things which give confidence in names. What would an Earl Chartwell of Westerham mean to future generations compared with the clarion voice we know as Churchill?

The purpose of this paper is to aggregate significant part of debates in the field of International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) toward performance improvement by benchmarking of the Total Quality Management (TQM) practices, and to propose TQM-Benchmarking model as a seed for future research in the context of INGOs.

TQM practices for INGOs were first identified based on critical synthesis of the literature for both, existing for-profit TQM literature and the INGOs field-specific quality and accountability frameworks, initiatives, and practices (Jordan introduced as an example) followed by solicitation of the opinions of experts and colleagues through personal interviews and focus group discussions to define the proposed TQM-Benchmarking model.

TQM-Benchmarking model of six practices vital to INGOs performance are proposed by this review including leadership and management commitment, beneficiaries focus and participation, partnership management for sustainability, human resource (HR) focus, process management and learning and continuous improvement, and use of quality information.

While TQM practices succeed in improving performance of for-profit organizations, this review proposed TQM-Benchmarking model with field-specific practical pillars of performance improvement in the INGOs.

Drawing from Upper-Echelons Theory (UET), this paper aims to examine whether an increasing number of board members studying and working overseas, especially in Anglo countries, provides some impetus for increased corporate environmental disclosures (CED) in Vietnam.

This study used quantitative data collection and analysis. The data collection involved a content analysis of annual, sustainability and integrated reports to capture the quality and quantity of CED. The authors subsequently developed ordered probit models to quantitatively test the hypotheses.

The authors find that board members studying in Anglo countries positively impact firms’ levels of CED in emerging economies. However, overseas work experience is found to be an insignificant explanatory variable. Further, the findings suggest that, in Vietnam, Chairs appear to be more influential than chief executive officers in affecting CED levels.

Despite the positive influence of overseas study, the authors find overall levels of CED in Vietnam remain relatively low. This suggests the necessity of dialogue about potential reform in CED policies, which could involve the introduction of mandatory reporting requirements. In addition, to enhance sustainability disclosures, shareholders should appoint board members who possess international qualifications.

This study adds to the literature exploring the impacts of Anglo cultural traits of board members on CED levels, within an economy transitioning from a communist ideology to a market-oriented system context. The connection between international study and cultural norms, beliefs and traditions in these countries and their positive influence on directors’ values and attitudes towards CED have not yet been studied. The study also extends UET by examining the potential positive influence of different national contexts on board members’ education levels.

This chapter considers the value of visual analyses for studying social movements through a study of pro-life uses of images of the fetus in the Australian abortion debate. In doing so, it points to important connections between the study of emotions in politics and visual approaches to social movement studies. It also contributes new primary material on the politics of reproduction through its study of the Australian pro-life movement, on which little has been written. Through discursive analysis of visual materials and practices embedded in three case studies, I demonstrate the range of strategies being used; their selection was informed by a wider survey of available records of pro-life uses of images of the fetus over the past four decades. Emotion is a powerful element of politics, and images of the fetus challenge the emotions, and hence the humanity, of the viewer. I identify three major themes represented in pro-life images of the fetus: the wonder of life; the human form and human frailty of the fetus; and the barbarity of modern society. The meanings of these images are built on our parallel understandings of both sight and emotion as immediate and unmediated. Moreover, the ambiguities and dualities of images of the fetus make their themes more, rather than less, persuasive.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model to investigate the determinants of information retweeting in microblogging based on Heuristic‐Systematic Model.

Microblogging data about emergency events from Sina microblogging (http://weibo.com) are collected and analyzed with text mining technology. The proposed hypotheses are tested with logistic and multiple linear regressions.

The results show that source trustworthiness, source expertise, source attractiveness, and the number of multimedia have significant effects on the information retweeting. In addition, source expertise moderates the effects of user trustworthiness and content objectivity on the information retweeting in microblogging.

This study provides an in‐depth understanding of what makes information about emergency events in microblogging diffuse so rapidly. Based on these findings the emergency management organizations in China can apply the microblogging to spread useful information, and these findings also provide practical implications for microblogging system designers.

The primary value of this paper lies in providing a better understanding of information retweeting in microblogging based on Heuristic‐Systematic Model. Organizations that would like to adopt the microblogging platform in emergency situations to improve the ability of emergency response can benefit from the findings of this study.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and critique ways in which the threats from confirmation bias have been rejected.

Dismissals of the existence of, or threats from, confirmation bias are identified from a review of literature across a very wide range of disciplines. The dismissals are robustly examined.

The dismissals are categorised as: (1) radical scepticism (2) consequentialism: and (3) denial. Each type of dismissal, it is argued, is flawed.

The three-fold structuring of confirmation bias dismissal is novel. In addition to drawing from organisation, management and wider social science literature, the article also uses arguments and examples from the creative arts.

The purpose of this paper is to present a selection of responses to the report Fashion Victims, published by War on Want in December 2006. It offers a range of viewpoints presented by members of the Editorial Advisory Board of CPOIB. These are presented in chronological order of submission. There is some cross‐reference by contributors to the work of others, but no attempt is made to present a unified argument.

Presents the full contributions of involved participants, without mediation or editorial change.

A number of different perspectives are presented on the central issue that is summarised by the opening heading in War on Want's report – “How cheap is too cheap?” It is seen that the answer to this question is very much dependent upon the standpoint of the respondent.

In presenting this form of commentary, members of the CPOIB Editorial Board seek to stimulate debate about an issue of concern to contemporary society, without resort to the time delay and mediating processes of peer‐review normally attached to academic writing. It is hoped that this discussion will provoke further contributions and a widening of the debate.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight a selection of poetry titles from the Poets House Showcase of 2006.

This article provides reviews of selected titles from the 2006 Poets House Showcase.

This review represents a wide‐ranging selection of contemporary poetry collections and anthologies.

This list documents the tremendous range of poetry publishing from commercial, independent and university presses, as well as letterpress chapbooks, art books and CDs.