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This paper aims to investigate whether citizens censor their own expressions regarding large corporations in social networking sites (SNS) and how self-censorship is associated with the perceived power of, knowledge about and media exposure about large corporations.

A nationwide survey was conducted in South Korea (N = 455). The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling.

As exposure to news about large corporations increased, the degree of self-censorship regarding large corporations increased. This effect of media exposure on self-censorship was mediated by the amount of knowledge about large corporations and the perceived power of large corporations.

Although this study focused on the SNS context, the results of this study cannot provide the features of the self-censorship process that are distinct in SNS compared to other contexts. Although a causal model was provided based on theoretical reasoning, the nature of the data is correlational. Thus, one should be cautious when interpreting the results.

The findings suggest that, while establishing privacy protection policies with regard to the SNS, policy makers need to consider how to prevent invasion of privacy and misuse of personal data by large corporations, interest groups and the unspecified public.

This study extends the literature related to self-censorship by identifying the effects of economic power and the psychological factors involved in self-censorship.

This paper aims to study the ethics of “smart” advertising and regulatory initiatives in the consumer intelligence industry. Increasingly, online behavioural advertising strategies, especially in the mobile media environment, are being integrated with other existing and emerging technologies to create new techniques based on “smart” surveillance practices. These “smart” surveillance practices have ethical impacts including identifiability, inequality, a chilling effect, the objectification, exploitation and manipulation of consumers as well as information asymmetries. This article examines three regulatory initiatives – privacy-by-design considerations, the proposed General Data Protection Regulation of the EU and the US Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2013 – that have sought to address the privacy and data protection issues associated with these practices.

The authors performed a critical literature review of academic, grey and journalistic publications surrounding behavioural advertising to identify the capabilities of existing and emerging advertising practices and their potential ethical impacts. This information was used to explore how well-proposed regulatory mechanisms might address current and emerging ethical and privacy issues in the emerging mobile media environment.

The article concludes that all three regulatory initiatives fall short of providing adequate consumer and citizen protection in relation to online behavioural advertising as well as “smart” advertising.

The article demonstrates that existing and proposed regulatory initiatives need to be amended to provide adequate citizen protection and describes how a focus on privacy and data protection does not address all of the ethical issues raised.

The presence of Bacillus sporothermodurans in retail UHT milk along with milk from different points of a processing line was determined. This paper aims to investigate the effect of chilling, pre‐heating, UHT, reprocessing and H₂O₂ individually and in combination on the survival of B. sporothermodurans in broth.

Standard plate counts were conducted for all milk samples and isolates from UHT milk were characterised using PCR. BS vegetative cells and spores in broth were subjected to various stresses encountered, during UHT processing of milk. Survival counts were conducted after all treatments.

B. sporothermodurans was detected in retail UHT milk packs from only one processor. UHT treatment at 140°C for 4s eliminated B. sporothermodurans in broth. The combination of chilling and UHT was more effective in eliminating B. sporothermodurans spores than UHT treatment alone. H₂O₂ was also effective in eliminating B. sporothermodurans spores after 15 min of exposure. The adopted real time (RT) PCR with SYBR Green method was effective for the confirmation of B. sporothermodurans.

This research is the first to be conducted with regards to the detection of B. sporothermodurans in UHT milk in South Africa and determining the effect of UHT processing stresses on their survival. These results can be used to design processing parameters so as to effectively eliminate B. sporothermodurans spores during UHT processing. This research is the first in which RT PCR with SYBR Green has been used to characterise B. sporothermodurans.

Welfare reform banned newly arrived immigrants who came to the US after 1996 from receiving federally funded benefits for five years. One assessment of the success of the five-year ban is the effect it has on behaviors that determine economic success and the likelihood of becoming a public charge. In this chapter, we investigate the effect of the five-year ban on the employment, hours of work, and wages of low-income women. Our results indicate that welfare reform in general caused a significant increase in the employment of low-educated, unmarried mothers regardless of citizenship. Among non-citizens, welfare reform was associated with a 10 percentage point (26%) increase in employment, a two-hour (15%) increase in hours worked per week, and a 10 percent decrease in wages. Surprisingly, we find little evidence that the five-year ban had any additional effect on the employment, hours of work, and wages of low-educated and unmarried, non-citizen mothers.

The doubling of obesity in the U.S. over the last 25 years has led policymakers and physicians to encourage weight loss, but few methods of weight loss are effective. One promising avenue is pharmacotherapy. However, little is known about the use of anti-obesity drugs. This paper describes the market for anti-obesity drugs and studies the utilization of anti-obesity drugs using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for 1996–2002, a period that is interesting because it covers the introduction of three, and the withdrawal of two, anti-obesity drugs from the market.

Our results point to wide sociodemographic disparities in anti-obesity drug use. Women are almost 200% more likely than men to use anti-obesity drugs. Hispanics and African-Americans are only 39% as likely as Whites to use them. Those with prescription drug coverage are 46% more likely to use anti-obesity drugs.

We also find that the vast majority of subjects who are approved to take these drugs are not taking them, and a significant number who are not approved to take the drugs are taking them. We find strong evidence that the well-publicized 1997 withdrawal of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine had a chilling effect on the overall market for anti-obesity drugs. We find little difference in observed characteristics between those who took the withdrawn drugs and those who took the other anti-obesity drugs in the market.

In this article, we focus on alternative dispute resolution procedures, in particular third party procedures. We describe eight different procedures and provide examples of how these procedures are used in different cultural contexts. We then evaluate the procedures in terms of how they impact four key criteria that have been noted in the literature related to negotiation: process criteria, settlement criteria, issue-related criteria, and relationship criteria. We subsequently explore the potential impact of culture on evaluations of these criteria. We finish with a discussion of future directions for research and practice, emphasizing that procedural recommendations should be made carefully when the criteria for effectiveness and applicability are derived from US-centric research. In other words, there is not “one best choice” for third party procedures universal to the myriad cultures on our planet.

This study aims to test the attitudes towards and social consequences of Edward Snowden’s revelations in New Zealand, taking into account New Zealand’s socio-cultural and political environment especially as regards privacy and state surveillance.

A questionnaire survey of 66 university students and semi-structured follow-up interviews with 18 respondents were conducted, in addition to reviews of the literature on privacy and state surveillance in New Zealand. The outcomes of the survey were statistically analysed and qualitative analyses of the interview results were also performed.

Despite a lack of detailed knowledge concerning Snowden’s revelations and a relative lack of knowledge of domestic law enforcement agencies, as well as those devoted to protecting human rights and privacy, the revelations have had a noticeable effect on New Zealand youngsters’ attitudes towards privacy and state surveillance, mainly evidenced in their willingness to emulate Snowden’s actions and in their changed online behaviour, thereby demonstrating a chilling effect.

The study results suggest younger New Zealanders are aware of and concerned with their privacy and that the government should better publicise the existing mechanisms for protecting human rights and privacy as well as for whistle-blowing by individuals to give effect to the aspirations of younger citizens in particular.

The results of this study, based on a questionnaire survey, indicates that state surveillance and other threats to privacy are issues of concern to younger New Zealanders and that better public education is needed as to the mechanisms that are available for citizens to protect their privacy and human rights.

This study is the first attempt to investigate the social impact of Snowden’s revelations on New Zealand youngsters’ attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance as part of cross-cultural analyses between eight countries.

This study investigated the effects of arbitration condition and risk‐taking propensity upon bargaining behavior. Negotiators anticipating final‐offer arbitration settled more contracts, resolved more contract issues, and conceded more than did negotiators anticipating conventional arbitration. Contrary to our hypothesis, low risk‐taking propensity dyads did not settle significantly more contract issues under final‐offer arbitration than they did under conventional arbitration. Union negotiators made significantly greater concessions during the 30 minute pre‐arbitration bargaining period and conceded a greater total amount than did management negotiators. Possible explanations for these findings are presented.

The control of particularly virulent communicable diseases such as COVID-19 can be considered a global public good. Unabated contagion, both within and across borders, can result in a global public bad. More effective control – such as by flattening the epidemiological curve – could prevent severe social and economic disruption by allowing domestic health and social protection systems to more adequately respond to the health crisis. This article elaborates on some of the main elements of counter COVID-19 responses, drawing on emerging international good practices. While a full evaluation of policy effectiveness is still forthcoming, it is critical to review and synthesize the emerging lessons and evidence even this early.

This article reviews the international good practices in counter COVID-19 responses across countries.

Concerted efforts across borders, such as by sharing data and collaborating in research and by coordinating international support for countercyclical economic and health responses at the national level, are some of the options for countering COVID-19 at the international level. Within countries, more inclusive social protection and health systems, combined with countercyclical economic policies, and concerted behavioral changes tend to produce more effective collective action against the spread of the disease.

This study is based on a review of emerging responses to the health crisis.

The policies and practices reviewed in this paper could feed into better-informed crisis responses to COVID-19 and other types of health shocks.

This study is among the first general reviews of policy responses to the COVID-19 health crisis.

This study aims to explore optimal pricing strategies for innovations with direct network externalities – the effect that the number of adopters of an innovation has on the utility of the innovation to other potential adopters. Examples of such innovations are fax machines, e‐mail, cellular phones, and software programs such as word processors. The success of these innovations requires a minimum number of adopters.

The paper uses agent‐based modeling and simulation.

The relationship between price and net present value (NPV) of revenue resembles an asymmetric inverse U‐shape. A low‐pricing strategy outperforms high‐pricing, while a moderate‐pricing strategy outperforms both low‐ and high‐pricing strategies. Moreover, heterogeneity of consumer price sensitivity positively affects the NPV of sales.

Pricing durable new products with network externalities is more challenging than other types of innovations. The results indicate that firms can maximize their NPV by adopting a moderate pricing strategy. Moreover, firms must consider heterogeneity of consumer price sensitivity along with the market price elasticity when making pricing decisions. Detailed strategic implications and recommendations are discussed.

Several recent studies have called for examining pricing strategies for new products with network externalities. The study findings challenge the common wisdom that a penetration pricing strategy is an optimal approach for durable products with network externalities. Moreover, while other studies have highlighted the importance of market price elasticity, extensive simulation experiments conducted in this study show that heterogeneity of consumer price sensitivity is an important factor that must be considered. Finally, the study presents an agent‐based modeling approach for exploring optimal pricing of innovations with network externalities.